It happened in my area of responsibility, so I‘m the responsible officer for that strike,” McKenzie said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
McKenzie said he was under “no pressure” and “no one in my chain of command below me was under any pressure to take that strike.”
The Pentagon on Friday confirmed it mistook a civilian vehicle for an ISIS-K threat when it launched a drone strike on Aug. 29 in Kabul that killed 10 civilians.
Es seien zehn Zivilisten, darunter bis zu sieben Kinder, bei dem Angriff ums Leben gekommen, sagte US-General Kenneth McKenzie.
Amid reports of intense fighting in the Panjshir, Pakistan‘s powerful intelligence chief made a surprise visit to Kabul on Saturday.
Hameed arrived in Kabul Saturday morning, leading a delegation of „senior Pakistani officials“, to discuss security, economic and trade issues, according to Pakistani media reports.
(01.09.2021)
Chris Bryant then asks about reports that British officials told people to go to the airport on the very day of the terrorist attack.
Dominic Raab says the travel advice was changed the night before the attack, and people were told not to come to the airport. The team was shifted from the Barons Hotel through to the airport to protect them.
He says he saw the report and „I need to investigate it“, but doesn‘t reject the possibility.
(01.09.2021)
The foreign secretary promised he would investigate a serious allegation that British officials told Afghans to proceed to the airport’s Abbey gate on Thursday last week, despite a specific warning that Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) was preparing a terror attack that day.
Nearly 200 people were killed in a double bombing at and near the gate used for the British evacuation – but BBC’s Newsnight has reported that Afghans were sent emails earlier that day asking, in one case, if they were “at the correct gate? Abbey gate”.
(01.09.2021)
“Please advise that you are at the correct gate? Abbey Gate on hawa on Shawasi Street,” one UK staff member wrote to the interpreter in an email seen by the BBC.
The interpreter decided not to go to Abbey Gate because he felt the situation was becoming increasingly dangerous and said that had he followed the advice he was given, he would “be no more”.
While all-white airframes aren‘t supposed to attract much attention, that paint scheme is also synonymous with clandestine operations, including „whitewashed“ aircraft often used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) for low-profile operations abroad. With that reality in mind, keen observers keeping an eye on traffic at Hamid Karzai International rightfully started thinking this may be some CIA asset that was slipping in on a unique mission. It turns out, that wasn‘t necessarily the case.
(01.09.2021)
Emails seen by Newsnight show that even though the UK and US deemed a threat to the airport to be imminent, the British embassy told people to „use the Abbey Gate [near] to the Baron Hotel“.
Almost 200 people were killed in the explosion, including two UK citizens.
The UK government said it was investigating the emails.
(31.08.2021)
“We coordinated very closely with the US, in particular around the Isis-K threat, which we anticipated although tragically were not able to prevent, but it is certainly right to say we got our civilians out of the processing centre by Abbey gate, but it is just not true to suggest that other than securing our civilians inside the airport that we were pushing to leave the gate open.
“In fact, and let me just be clear about this, we were issuing changes to travel advice before the bomb attack took place and saying to people in the crowd, about which I was particularly concerned, that certainly UK nationals and anyone else should leave because of the risk.”
(30.08.2021)
The British Ministry of Defence declined to respond to allegations they were to blame for keeping the gate open, but said in a statement: ‚Throughout Operation Pitting we have worked closely with the US to ensure the safe evacuation of thousands of people.
(30.08.2021)
The Pentagon criticised the leaking of the call details reported in Politico, telling the news website: “This story is based on the unlawful disclosure of classified information and internal deliberations of a sensitive nature.
“As soon as we became aware of the material divulged to the reporter, we engaged Politico at the highest levels to prevent the publication of information that would put our troops and our operations at the airport at greater risk. We condemn the unlawful disclosure of classified information and oppose the publication of a story based on it while a dangerous operation is ongoing.”
(30.08.2021)
Commanders calling in from Kabul relayed that the Abbey Gate, where American citizens had been told to gather in order to gain entrance to the airport, was “highest risk,” and detailed their plans to protect the airport.
“I don’t believe people get the incredible amount of risk on the ground,” Austin said, according to the classified notes.
On a separate call at 4 that afternoon, or 12:30 a.m. on Thursday in Kabul, the commanders detailed a plan to close Abbey Gate by Thursday afternoon Kabul time. But the Americans decided to keep the gate open longer than they wanted in order to allow their British allies, who had accelerated their withdrawal timeline, to continue evacuating their personnel, based at the nearby Baron Hotel.
Die Inszenierung erreichte ihren Höhepunkt mit der Ankunft eines Großteils des Deutschen Kontingents der „Evakuierungsmission“ auf dem Fliegerhorst Wunstorf, wo die ankommenden Militärtransporter A400M von Wasserfontänen der Flughafenfeuerwehr begrüßt wurden, die Verteidigungsministerin Kramp-Karrenbauer (die bereits von Taschkent aus mitgeflogen war) dem Brigadegeneral Arlt vermeintlich spontan um den Hals fiel und dieser mit umgehängten G36 vor Kameras und Mikrofon trat.
The United States’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said it was aware of “reports of civilian casualties” following the drone attack, which it said hit “multiple suicide bombers” who were preparing to attack the ongoing evacuations at the Kabul airport.
The Turkish embassy in Kabul has returned to its building in the city and Ankara will maintain its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.
NATO countries have been pulling out their diplomatic missions in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s victory two weeks ago.
Das US-Militär hat nach eigenen Angaben in der afghanischen Hauptstadt Kabul einen Luftangriff durchgeführt, um eine „unmittelbare Bedrohung“ für den Flughafenbetrieb durch Terroristen abzuwenden.
Die US-Botschaft hatte US-Bürger, die sich am Abbey Gate, East Gate oder North Gate aufhielten, in der Nacht zu Donnerstag dazu aufgerufen, das Gebiet „sofort“ zu verlassen. Großbritanniens Staatssekretär im Verteidigungsministerium, James Heappey, sprach noch am Morgen von der Drohung eines „ernsthaften, unmittelbaren, tödlichen Angriffs“ binnen Stunden auf den Flughafen oder die von westlichen Truppen genutzten Zentren.
(25.08.2021)
(26 Aug 2021)
The US Embassy in Kabul issued an alert advising US citizens to avoid travelling to the airport and said those already at the gates should leave immediately. It cited unspecified “security threats”.
The British Foreign Office issued a similar advisory, telling people in the area of the airport to “move away to a safe location”, adding, “There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack.”
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also urged Australians and Afghans with a visa for Australia to leave the area, warning of a “very high threat of a terrorist attack” at the airport.
(August 21, 2021)
Kirby’s comments followed the disclosure that U.S. troops, traveling aboard Chinook helicopters, left the airport Thursday to retrieve 169 Americans from a nearby hotel.
(Published 4:52 PM UTC Aug. 26, 2021 Updated 8:44 PM UTC Aug. 26, 2021)
Arriving at the airport and passing through a security gate is the first step. Approaching the airport through snarled traffic and Taliban roadblocks was already difficult, but now entry may now be impossible after U.S. forces closed all gates due to an apparent attack.
American citizens who show up at the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport would find a seat on one of the last flights out, but just about anybody else would be left behind, according to a U.S. official who is familiar with the operation but not authorized to speak publicly.
Outside the airport, desperation mounts for American citizens and Afghans who aided U.S. troops. U.S. special operators swooped into a neighborhood in Kabul to scoop up about 20 Americans unable to reach the airport, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday.
In einer Sondersitzung stimmten 539 Abgeordnete für den Einsatz von bis zu 600 Bundeswehrsoldaten. Neun Abgeordnete stimmten dagegen, 90 enthielten sich. Das Mandat ist bis zum 30. September befristet.
Nach Angaben der Bundeswehr kam es zu dem Schusswechsel gegen 04.15 Uhr (MESZ) am Nordtor des Airports. Das Tor ist jedoch geschlossen. Die deutsche Botschaft hatte erst kurz zuvor gewarnt, dass es an den Zugängen immer noch sehr häufig zu gefährlichen Situationen und bewaffneten Auseinandersetzungen komme.
It‘s not clear who started the fighting and German officials said the three Afghans were hurt by „unknown attackers“.
The Afghan forces are thought to be part of an army contingent who have been helping international forces, having refused to surrender to the Taliban.
Our first priority in Kabul is getting American citizens out of the country as quickly and as safely as possible. At my direction, the State Department continues to reach out to the remaining Americans we have identified by phone, e-mail, and other means to ascertain their whereabouts and their plans.
We’re executing a plan to move groups of these Americans to safety and to safely and effectively move them to the airport compound.
For security reasons, I’m not going to go into the detail of what these plans entail, but I will say again today that I have said before: Any American who wants to get home will get home.
We’ve also been evacuating the citizens of our NATO Allies and our partners, including their diplomats, their embassy staff who remain in Afghanistan and to get them back to their homes as well.
And as we do this, we’re also working to move our Afghan allies, who stood with us side by side, and other vulnerable Afghans such as women leaders and journalists, out of the country.
In recent days, the Qatari ambassador to Afghanistan has escorted small groups of Americans into the airport, according to two people familiar with the effort who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation. American citizens have been instructed to meet at rally points in the city, and the ambassador then accompanies them to guarantee safe passage, these people said. Qatar has served as an intermediary between the United States and the Taliban at several stages of the American withdrawal, sponsoring peace talks and serving as the first point of refuge for many evacuees.
Biden outlined how Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants who assisted the U.S. military are being transported from Kabul to transit centers in Qatar, Germany, Kuwait, and Spain so they can complete their paperwork and undergo background checks.
Der Sender CNN berichtet von der Gefahr eines Anschlags der Terrorgruppe „Islamischer Staat“ und beruft sich dabei auf Quellen aus dem US-Verteidigungsministerium. Der Sprecher des Pentagons wollte bei einer Pressekonferenz dazu keine Details nennen. Die USA wollen eigentlich zum 31. August den Abzug ihrer Truppen abschließen. Daher drängt die Zeit: Die Luftbrücke könnte dann nicht mehr aufrechterhalten werden.
The US Embassy said on Saturday that American citizens in Afghanistan should stay away from Kabul’s airport, the only way out, “because of potential security threats outside the gates.”
The advisory directly contradicted President Biden’s insistence on Friday that Americans could proceed to the airport freely.
The Genius Media Nigeria reports that a security alert on Saturday told US citizens to stay away due to possible “security threats outside the gates”.
(21.08.2021)
A new threat from the Islamic State’s (ISIS) branch in Afghanistan prompted a new warning from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul that urged Americans to not come to the besieged airport in Kabul, officials confirmed to Fox News on Saturday.
(21.08.2021)
The development directly contradicts President Biden’s insistence Friday that Americans could proceed to the airport freely from the Afghan capital and that an “agreement” with the Taliban had been reached over the issue.
Now, Justin Sink of Bloomberg.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. You just said that you would keep a laser-focus on counterterrorism efforts and that you don’t see as great of a threat of terrorism from Afghanistan as other parts of the world. But if you and your administration so badly misassessed how quickly the Taliban would sweep through Afghanistan and we no longer have an embassy there from which to run intelligence operations, how can you at all be confident of your assessment of the risk of terrorism and the ability of the U.S. to conduct over-the-horizon missions to keep it in check? Can you tell Americans that they’re safe and will remain safe from terror attacks in Afghanistan?
THE PRESIDENT: I think you’re comparing apples and oranges. One question was whether or not the Afghan forces we trained up would stay and fight in their own civil war they had going on.
No one — I shouldn’t say “no one” — the consensus was that it was highly unlikely that in 11 days they’d collapse and fall, and the leader of Afghanistan would flee the country.
He said: „The UK Government’s overriding priority has been to secure Kabul airport so that flights can leave.
„The call was delegated to a Minister of State because I was prioritising security and capacity at the airport on the direct advice of the Director and the Director General overseeing the crisis response.
„In any event, the Afghan Foreign Minister agreed to take the call, but was unable to because of the rapidly deteriorating situation.“
It has been reported that help for interpreters who supported British troops was delayed because Mr Raab was “unavailable” to make a call to call Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar on Friday.
Mr Raab reportedly delegated the call to a junior minister.
Maas zufolge versucht die Bundesregierung derzeit, auch über Drittstaaten wie Katar Einfluss auf die Taliban zu nehmen. Derzeit gebe es aber noch „keine belastbaren Sicherheitszusagen“, dass die Taliban afghanische Staatsangehörige frei zum Flughafen in Kabul passieren lassen, sagte Maas.
A Taliban commander and senior leader of the Haqqani Network militant group, Anas Haqqani, met for talks with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a Taliban official told Reuters on Wednesday. Karzai was accompanied by Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council.
A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, Nikita Ishchenko, was quoted as saying: “The collapse of the regime…is most eloquently characterised by how Ghani escaped from Afghanistan: four cars were filled with money, they tried to shove another part of the money into a helicopter, but not everything fit.
Asked by the Associated Press about how he knew the details of Ghani’s departure, Mr Ishchenko said “well, we are working here,” without offering any more details.
Das Kabinett hat das Mandat für den Evakuierungseinsatz der Bundeswehr auf den Weg gebracht – der Bundestag soll kommende Woche abstimmen.
On Tuesday, Kaag told NOS broadcaster that although a Dutch military plane was able to land, the short turnaround time at the airport controlled by American troops meant that they were unable to board. ‘There was a half-hour slot to get people on the tarmac,’ she said. ‘Lots of people were there, and at the airport gates, with their families. I think it is awful.’ She had called for the 6,000 American troops, who have been sent back into Afghanistan after their withdrawal, to allow people more time for boarding.
Erneut chaotische Szenen am Flughafen Kabul: Mehrere niederländische Staatsangehörige wurden auf dem Weg zu ihrem Evakuierungsflug vom US-Militär aufgehalten. Hunderte Menschen harren weiter rund um den Airport Kabul aus.
(vor 7 Stunden)
– Pentagon spokesman John Kirby insisted Monday that the Kabul airport chaos earlier in the day did not constitute a failure
– American troops killed two armed Afghan nationals on the airfield who had stormed to try to get on planes
– Three fell to their deaths after climbing onto the fuselage of a C-17 jet in the desperate hope of holding on as the plane took off
– The bloodied bodies of another three Afghan nationals were left on the runway after the plane took off
In another video, hundreds of people could be seen running alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moved down a runway. Some clung to the side of the jet just before takeoff. Another video showed several falling through the air as the airplane rapidly gained altitude over the city.
Senior military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation, told The Associated Press that the chaos left seven dead, including several who fell from the flight.