US drone strike kills 'planner' of Kabul airport attack

KABUL • Western forces running the Afghan airlift braced themselves yesterday for more attacks after a US drone strike apparently killed an Islamic State (IS) "planner", two days after the group claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing outside Kabul airport.

Thursday's suicide blast killed at least 170 people, including 13 US troops, the most lethal incident for American forces in Afghanistan in a decade. The blast was claimed by the Afghanistan affiliate of IS, which is also called ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria).

Referring to the overnight drone strike, the US military said in a statement: "Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties."

US Central Command said the strike took place in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul and bordering Pakistan. It did not say whether the target was connected with the airport attack.

Residents of Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar, said they heard several explosions from an air strike around midnight on Friday though it was not clear if the blasts were caused by a US drone.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the Afghanistan situation yesterday and agreed on the need for international aid and a common approach by the Group of 7 (G-7) industrialised countries to the future government of Afghanistan.

"The Prime Minister and Chancellor resolved to work, alongside the rest of the G-7, to put in place the road map on dealing with any new Afghan government," Mr Johnson's office said.

"The Prime Minister stressed that any recognition and engagement with the Taleban must be conditional on them allowing safe passage for those who want to leave the country and respecting human rights," the statement added.

The White House said the next few days were likely to be the most dangerous of the evacuation that has flown about 111,000 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US believed there were still "specific, credible" threats against the airport after the bombing at one of its gates.

"We certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts," Mr Kirby said in Washington. "We're monitoring these threats, very, very specifically."

The US Embassy in Kabul warned Americans to avoid the airport because of security threats, and said those at its gates should leave immediately.

US and allied forces have been racing to complete the evacuation of their citizens and vulnerable Afghans and to withdraw from Afghanistan by the Tuesday deadline set by President Joe Biden after two decades of American military presence there.

Most of the more than 20 allied countries involved in airlifting Afghans and their citizens out of Kabul said they had completed evacuations by Friday. Britain ended its operation yesterday.

Throngs of people have gathered outside the airport to try to get on evacuation flights since the Taleban took control of Afghanistan on Aug 15, although on Friday Taleban guards stopped people from approaching.

Mr Biden said earlier he had ordered the Pentagon to plan how to strike Islamic State Khorasan, or IS-K, which claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombing. Khorasan is an old name for the region. IS-K appeared in eastern Afghanistan in 2014 and later made inroads into other areas, particularly the north.

The group is an enemy of the Islamist Taleban as well as the West.

The Pentagon said the Kabul airport strike was carried out by one suicide bomber at an airport gate, not two as it had earlier stated.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drone strike was against an IS militant planning attacks.

A Reaper drone, which took off from the Middle East, struck the militant who was in a car with an associate. Both are believed to have been killed, the official said.

In Jalalabad, community elder Malik Adib said three people were killed and four hurt in the air strike around midnight on Friday.

"Women and children are among the victims," said Mr Adib, though he did not have information about their identities.

Mr Biden was already facing criticism at home and abroad for the chaos surrounding the troop withdrawal and evacuations.

Mr Biden has defended his decisions, saying the United States long ago achieved its rationale for invading the country in 2001.

The US-led invasion toppled the then-ruling Taleban, punishing them for harbouring the Al-Qaeda militants who had masterminded the Sept 11 attacks in the US.

United Nations officials have said that the population left behind is facing a "catastrophic" humanitarian situation, and up to half a million Afghans could flee their homeland by the year end.

REUTERS