Rocket fire targeting Kabul airport hits neighborhood; US flights continue.

Attack comes in last hours of US withdrawal

KABUL, Afghanistan – Islamic State militants fired a volley of rockets at Kabul’s rapidly emptying international airport on Monday, with just hours left before a deadline for U.S. forces to withdraw at the end of America’s longest war.

Taliban fighters watched the last U.S. planes disappear into the sky over Afghanistan around midnight Monday and then fired their guns into the air, celebrating victory after a 20-year insurgency that drove the world’s most powerful military out of one of the poorest countries.

The departure of the U.S. cargo planes marked the end of a massive airlift in which tens of thousands of people fled Afghanistan, fearful of the return of Taliban rule after the militants took over most of the country and rolled into the capital earlier this month.

All day Monday, U.S. military cargo jets came and went despite the rocket attack, which did not hurt anyone. The Taliban earlier released a video shot from the airport’s grounds, saying the Americans had removed or destroyed most of their equipment and that troop numbers were far lower.

“It looks like today will be the last day,” one of the unidentified fighters said.

With the departure of the last of its troops, the U.S. is ending its 20-year war with the Taliban back in power. Many Afghans remain fearful of them or further instability, and there have been sporadic reports of killings and other abuses in areas under Taliban control despite pledges to restore peace and security.

In the previous 24 hours, the American military had evacuated about 1,200 people on 26 C-17 flights, while two coalition flights flew out 50 others, the White House said.

The two-week airlift brought scenes of desperation and horror. In the early days, people desperate to flee Taliban rule flooded onto the tarmac, and some fell to their deaths after clinging to a departing aircraft.

On Thursday, an Islamic State suicide attack at an airport gate killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members.

The extremist group is far more radical than the Taliban, who captured most of Afghanistan in a matter of days. The two groups have fought each other before, and the Taliban have pledged to not harbor terrorist groups.

The Taliban tightened their security cordon around the airport after the attack, clearing away massive crowds of Afghans who were desperate to flee the country in the waning days of the U.S.led airlift. Taliban fighters are now stationed along a fence near the main runway.

A crowd quickly gathered Monday around the remains of a four-door sedan used in the rocket attack. The car had what appeared to be six homemade rocket tubes mounted in place of its back seats.

“I was inside the house with my children and other family members. Suddenly there were some blasts,” said Jaiuddin Khan, who lives nearby. “We jumped into the house compound and lay on the ground.”

Some of the rockets landed across town, striking residential apartment blocks, witnesses said. That neighborhood is under 2 miles from the airport. No injuries were reported.

Five rockets targeted the airport, said Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a U.S. military spokesman. A defensive weapon known as a C-RAM – a Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar System – targeted the rockets in a whirling hail of ammunition, he said. The system has a distinct, drill-like sound that echoed through the city at the time of the attack.

An IS statement, carried by the group’s Amaq media outlet, claimed the militants fired six rockets.

The White House said President Joe Biden was briefed on the rocket attack.

“The president was informed that operations continue uninterrupted at HKIA, and has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground,” the statement said, using an acronym for Kabul’s airport.

Planes took off about every 20 minutes at one point Monday morning.

The airport had been one of the few ways out for foreigners and Afghans fleeing the Taliban. However, coalition nations have halted their evacuations in recent days, leaving the U.S. military largely alone there with some remaining allied Afghan forces.

The U.S. State Department released a statement Sunday signed by about 100 countries, as well as NATO and the European Union, saying they had received “assurances” from the Taliban that people with travel documents would still be able to leave.

KHWAJA TAWFIQ SEDIQI/AP People gather around a vehicle from which rockets were fired in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday. A neighborhood near the airport was hit.