Evacuation flights resume in Kabul after deadly bombings

KABUL – Evacuation flights from Afghanistan resumed with caller urgency connected Friday, a time aft 2 termination bombings targeted the thousands of hopeless radical fleeing the Taliban takeover. The U.S. says further attempted attacks are expected up of the Tuesday deadline for overseas troops to leave, ending America’s longest war.

Kabul residents said respective flights took disconnected Friday morning, portion footage shared by a section Tolo TV analogous showed the anxious assemblage extracurricular the airdrome arsenic ample arsenic ever.

Thursday’s bombings adjacent Kabul’s planetary airdrome killed astatine slightest 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said, successful the deadliest time for U.S. forces successful Afghanistan since August 2011. In an affectional speech, President Joe Biden blamed the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate, acold much extremist than the Taliban militants who seized powerfulness little than 2 weeks ago.

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“We volition rescue the Americans; we volition get our Afghan allies out, and our ngo volition spell on,” Biden said. But contempt aggravated unit to widen Tuesday’s deadline, helium has cited the menace of violent attacks arsenic a crushed to support to his plan.

The Taliban, backmost successful power of Afghanistan 2 decades aft they were ousted successful a U.S.-led penetration pursuing the 9/11 attacks, importune connected the deadline. The Trump medication successful February 2020 struck an statement with the Taliban that called for it to halt attacks connected Americans successful speech for the removal of each U.S. troops and contractors by May; Biden announced successful April helium would person them retired by September.

While the U.S. connected Thursday said much than 100,000 radical person been safely evacuated from Kabul, arsenic galore arsenic 1,000 Americans and tens of thousands much Afghans are struggling to permission successful 1 of history’s largest airlifts. Gen. Frank McKenzie, the U.S. Central Command main overseeing the evacuation, connected Thursday said astir 5,000 radical were awaiting flights connected the airfield.

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The scenes astatine the airport, with radical lasting knee-deep successful sewage and families thrusting documents and adjacent young children toward U.S. troops down razor wire, person horrified galore astir the satellite arsenic far-flung efforts proceed to assistance radical escape.

But those chances are fading accelerated for many. Some U.S. allies person said they are ending evacuation efforts, successful portion to springiness the U.S. clip to wrapper up its evacuation enactment earlier getting 5,000 of its troops retired by Tuesday.

Britain said Friday its evacuations from Afghanistan volition extremity wrong hours, and the main British processing halfway for eligible Afghans has been closed. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News determination would beryllium “eight oregon nine” evacuation flights connected Friday, and they volition beryllium the last. British troops volition permission implicit the adjacent fewer days.

The Spanish authorities said it has ended its evacuation operation.

Untold thousands of Afghans, particularly ones who had worked with the U.S. and different Western countries, are present successful hiding from the Taliban, fearing retaliation contempt the group’s connection of afloat amnesty. The militant radical has claimed it has go much mean since its harsh regularisation from 1996 to 2001, erstwhile it mostly confined women to their homes, banned tv and euphony and held nationalist executions.

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But Afghans successful Kabul and elsewhere person reported that immoderate Taliban members are barring girls from attending schoolhouse and going doorway to doorway successful hunt of radical who had worked with Western forces.

No 1 knows however effectual the Taliban volition beryllium astatine combating the Sunni extremists of IS, who person links to the group’s much well-known affiliate successful Syria and Iraq and person carried retired a bid of brutal attacks successful Afghanistan, chiefly targeting its Shiite Muslim minority.

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