South & Central Asia

Afghanistan: What We Know

FILE - An Islamic State flag lies abandoned in a battlefield.

Here are the latest developments in Afghanistan as of Saturday:

  • Zalmay Khalilzad, special U.S. envoy for Afghan peace, hailed a Taliban commitment to allow Afghans to leave the country after the U.S. ends its evacuation efforts on August 31.
  • Another attack at the Kabul airport is likely soon, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement. He also said the airstrike against ISIS-K would not be the last.
  • Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. airstrike Friday resulted in the deaths of two “high-profile” members of the group. He said another was wounded and there were no civilian casualties.
  • Kirby also said that threats against the airport “are still very real, they’re very dynamic, and we are monitoring them literally in real time.”
  • A State Department official told VOA on condition of anonymity the U.S. evacuation of Afghans at the airport had wound down significantly, with most of the remaining 100 American civilian government staffers set to leave before midnight Saturday.
  • The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization called for humanitarian aid to help more than 7 million Afghan farmers facing worsening drought conditions. The FAO described the drought as “severe” and said its impact on Afghans was exacerbated by the displacement of people caused by the conflict and the economic impact of COVID-19.
  • The U.S. military launched a drone strike late Friday, targeting a member of an IS Afghan affiliate group. Two people were killed in the strike, one of whom was believed to have been responsible for planning deadly attacks on the U.S. in Kabul. It was not immediately clear whether the target was involved in Thursday’s deadly attack outside Kabul airport. The strike was launched less than 48 hours after the Kabul airport attack.
  • The U.S. Embassy urged U.S. citizens not to come to the Kabul airport because of security threats and to leave immediately if they were near any of four gates to the airport, according to a statement on the State Department’s website.
  • “There doesn’t appear to be any concerted effort to get SIVs [Special Immigrant Visa holders] out at this point,” a State Department official told VOA from Hamid Karzai International Airport. But the department was still trying to evacuate local embassy staff, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
  • U.S. Army General Hank Taylor said Friday that a single suicide bomber, not two as previously believed, carried out Thursday’s attack.
  • Despite the risks, crowds of people desperate to leave Afghanistan gathered outside Kabul’s airport early Friday as evacuation flights resumed.
  • A VOA reporter who visited the area outside the airport later in the day saw mostly empty streets, with Taliban security blocking access to nearby streets.
  • About 106,000 people have left Afghanistan on evacuation flights since August 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul.
  • Taylor said some gates to the airport have been closed, but U.S. personnel continue to process for departure American citizens, SIV applicants and vulnerable Afghans who have the proper credentials.