US hastens withdrawal as missiles target troops at Kabul Airport

U.S. anti-missile defences intercepted as many as five rockets fired at Kabul’s airport early on Monday, a U.S. official said, as the United States rushed to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end its longest war.

Afghan media said the attack was launched from the back of a vehicle and several rockets struck different parts of the Afghan capital.

The attack followed a huge Islamic State suicide bombing outside the airport gates on Thursday that killed scores of Afghans and 13 U.S. troops and another reported attempted bombing on Sunday.

The U.S. and allied forces have evacuated about 114,400 people, including foreign nationals and Afghans deemed “at-risk”, in an effort that began a day before Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15.

The forces themselves are due to pull out by a Tuesday deadline agreed with the Islamist militants.

President Joe Biden reconfirmed his order for commanders to do “whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground” after he was briefed on Monday’s rocket fire, the White House said. He was told airport operations continued uninterrupted, it added.

On Sunday, Pentagon officials said a U.S. drone strike killed a suicide car bomber who had been preparing to attack the airport on behalf of ISIS-K, a local affiliate of Islamic State that is an enemy of both the West and the Taliban.

U.S. Central Command said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties.

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“We know there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties,” it said.

The drone attack killed seven people, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told China’s state television CGTN on Monday, criticising the U.S. action on foreign soil as unlawful.

It was the second such condemnation after a U.S. drone strike on Saturday killed two Islamic State militants in the eastern province of Nangarhar, in an attack the spokesman said had wounded two women and a child.

The Taliban will take full control of Kabul airport after the American withdrawal on Tuesday, according to reports.

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