With six days remaining to evacuate Americans and their allies from Afghanistan, the situation has turned far more complex and calamitous.
The Taliban say that they are not interested in extending the August 31st deadline to allow Americans to leave, and the terror-sponsoring group has now reportedly blocked the roads to Kabul airport in order to keep Afghans with travel visas from fleeing their next reign.
On Wednesday night, US officials warned any Americans in the area of the Kabul airport to vacate immediately on account of an “imminent” terror threat.
The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan warned Americans trapped in the country not to travel to the Kabul airport due to security threats, and urged those at specific airport gates to get out immediately, in a startling statement early Thursday.
“Because of security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so,” the statement from the embassy read.
“U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately,” the embassy added.
Then, on Thursday evening local time:
We can confirm an explosion outside Kabul airport. Casualties are unclear at this time. We will provide additional details when we can.
— Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder (@PentagonPresSec) August 26, 2021
NEW: Suicide bomber “complex SBIED attack” with firefight at Abbey Gate outside Kabul airport; Afghan casualties: US official
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) August 26, 2021
https://twitter.com/BrowneGareth/status/1430887830264246281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1430887830264246281%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsteadfastdaily.com%2Fexplosion-outside-kabul-airport-after-pentagon-warning%2F
There were also reports that an Italian rescue plane had been forced to perform an evasive maneuver after taking gunfire from the ground.
These developments will only further complicate the evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, and could lead to the abandonment of Americans and those who helped us over the course of the last two decades.
