At least 95 Afghans ands 13 US troops killed in bombings outside Kabul airport

AT LEAST 95 Afghans were killed in Thursday’s suicide bombings outside Kabul’s international airport, officials said.

Afghan and US officials had earlier said the bombings killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 US troops, in the deadliest day for US forces in Afghanistan since August 2011.

The US government has said further attempted attacks are expected ahead of the Tuesday deadline for foreign troops to leave, ending America’s longest war.

Kabul residents said several flights took off yesterday morning, while the anxious crowd outside the airport was as large as ever. In one location, dozens of Taliban members with heavy weapons about 500m from the airport were preventing anyone from venturing forward.

Earlier, in an emotional speech in Washington DC, US President Joe Biden blamed the incident on the socalled Islamic State in Afghanistan (Isis-K), a far more radical force than the Taliban militants who seized power less than two weeks ago.

Mr Biden said: “We will rescue the

Americans; we will get our Afghan allies out, and our mission will go on.”

But despite intense pressure to extend Tuesday’s deadline, he has cited the threat of terrorist attacks as a reason to keep to his plan.

The Taliban, back in control of Afghanistan two decades after it was ousted in a US-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks, insists on the deadline.

In February 2020, the Trump administration struck an agreement with the Taliban that called for it to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for the removal of all US troops and contractors by May 2021.

Mr Biden announced in April he would have them out by September.

While the US on Thursday said more than 100,000 people have been safely evacuated from Kabul, as many as 1,000 Americans and tens of thousands more Afghans are struggling to leave in one of history’s largest airlifts.

The White House said yesterday morning that 8,500 evacuees had been flown out of Kabul aboard US military aircraft in the previous 24 hours, as well as about 4,000 people on coalition flights. That was slightly less than the combined total for the day before the attacks.

The coalition’s evacuation flights are scaling back, and the US is scheduled to finish its evacuation operation by Tuesday.

In the wake of the bombings, General Frank McKenzie, the US Central Command chief overseeing the evacuation, warned that more were possible, and American commanders were working with the Taliban to prevent them.

The scenes at the airport, with peo

ple standing knee-deep in sewage and families thrusting documents and even young children towards US troops behind razor wire, have horrified many around the world as efforts continue to help people escape.

But those chances are fading fast for many. Some US allies have said they are ending evacuation efforts, in part to give the US time to wrap up its evacuation work before getting 5,000 of its troops out by Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has asked Turkey to operate Kabul airport after the Americans leave, but a decision would be made “after the administration [in Afghanistan] is clear”, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.

Untold thousands of Afghans, especially ones who had worked with the US and other Western countries, are now in hiding from the Taliban, fearing retaliation despite the group’s offer of full amnesty.

The militant group has claimed it has become more moderate since its harsh rule from 1996 to 2001, when it largely confined women to their homes, banned television and music and held public executions.