The US has 5 more days to get people out of Afghanistan, but Taliban and ISIS attacks are preventing people from reaching the airport

People who want to flee the country continue to wait around Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 24, 2021.

Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

• The US has just five more days left to get people out of Afghanistan before the August 31 deadline.
• Threats from the Taliban and ISIS-K are making the situation in Kabul even more dire.
• A bomb went off outside the Kabul airport Thursday, causing "a number of US and civilian casualties."
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

The US has just five more days left to get people out of Afghanistan until President Joe Biden's August 31 evacuation mission deadline - and the situation in the capital of Kabul is continuing to grow even more dire due to threats from the Taliban and ISIS-K, an affiliate of the Islamic State terror group.

An explosion Thursday rocked the area just outside the Kabul airport where the US and NATO allies are carrying out ongoing efforts to evacuate people from the city, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed on Twitter. He said the blast was the "result of a complex attack" and caused "a number of US & civilian casualties."

There was at least one other explosion Thursday "at or near" the Baron Hotel, Kirby said, explaining the location is a "short distance away from the Abbey Gate" of the airport.

The explosions come after the US, UK, and Australian governments had previously warned citizens to keep away from the area as a result of security threats outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Smoke rises from explosion outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021

AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon

The US Embassy in Kabul on Wednesday urged Americans "to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US government representative to do so."

The security alert said US citizens "who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately."

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters there is a "real threat of ISIS-K."

"That is why we are concerned about numbers around the airport," Psaki said. "That is why we are in direct contact, through a range of means, with individuals about how and when to come to the airport."

A senior US official confirmed to The New York Times in a report published Wednesday that the security alert was issued due to a "specific" and "credible" threat posed by ISIS-K.

The Taliban swiftly took control of Afghanistan on August 15 after the stunning collapse of the Afghan government.

Taliban fighters attacked and killed Afghans waiting to be evacuated from the airport in Kabul early Thursday, the UK's The Times reported.

Witnesses told the newspaper that a child was stabbed and others assaulted at the airport's Abbey Gate.

"The Taliban beat people with whatever they have on their hands, like electric cables and rubber pipes," Tawfiq Jan told the news outlet. "We begged them not to fire but they kept firing and they hurt people."

Because it's been so hard to reach the airport, the CIA and US military have been conducting operations to get Americans out of Afghanistan using helicopters and ground troops, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Taliban fighters display their flag on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021.

Rahmat Gul/AP

An estimated 1,500 Americans and 150,000 Afghans still have to get out

Approximately 1,500 Americans still remain in Afghanistan awaiting evacuation ahead of the August 31 deadline, and officials are still trying to track down a majority of them, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

"Over the past 24 hours we've been in direct contact with approximately 500 additional Americans and provided specific instructions on how to get to the airport safely," Blinken said, according to CNN.

He continued, "For the remaining roughly 1,000 contacts that we had who may be Americans seeking to leave Afghanistan, we're aggressively reaching out to them multiple times a day through multiple channels of communication."

Since evacuation efforts began on August 14, more than 82,000 people have been airlifted out of Afghanistan, including "at least 4,500 American citizens and likely more," Blinken said.

An Airman carries a child at an Evacuation Control Checkpoint during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 20, 2021.

US Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla

Blinken said the US is on track "complete" its mission in Afghanistan by the August 31 deadline, "provided the Taliban continue to cooperate, and there are no disruptions."

"Let me be crystal clear about this," Blinken said. "There's no deadline on our work to help remaining US citizens and Afghan partners who decide they want to leave to do so."

Meanwhile, at least 250,000 Afghans who helped the US military - and may be eligible for expedited American visas - were still in Afghanistan as of Wednesday, according to a New York Times analysis.

The US is evacuating people at a rate of 20,000 a day, The Times reported.

And at that rate, about 150,000 Afghans eligible for expedited visas would be left behind, the data suggests.

The Pentagon said Wednesday it will concentrate on removing US troops and military equipment the last two days before the deadline, Reuters reported. That effectively means the US has until Sunday to get civilians out.

About 5,400 troops remain at the airport, according to Reuters.

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Contributer : Business Insider https://ift.tt/3jpLim5

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