Three of America’s top allies announced what the pair of deadly terror attacks in Kabul Thursday meant for their involvement in the humanitarian mission in Afghanistan, all before the White House.
Any announcement about what impact, if any, the attacks would have on U.S. evacuation efforts would likely come during a national address from President Joe Biden himself. The White House and State Department canceled previously planned press briefings for Thursday afternoon, and officials told the Washington Examiner that Biden will likely deliver remarks in the 5:00 pm ET hour.
Defense Department officials confirmed that evacuation flights did not pause on Thursday after the two explosions, one of which occurred directly outside the airport gates and a second near the Barron Hotel, which is popular among Americans in Afghanistan.
The Biden administration’s silence comes as two chief allies, the United Kingdom and France, both committed to continuing the evacuation after Thursday’s attacks.
France vowed to try to evacuate “several hundred” more Afghans, and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in justifying his decision, stated that allies “always knew that this was a moment there were going to be particular vulnerabilities to terrorism.”
https://twitter.com/ITVNewsPolitics/status/1430943782082654209German officials, however, announced that the country’s participation in the evacuation had ended despite Chancellor Angela Merkel’s denunciation of the “heinous attacks.”
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White House officials did not return inquiries by press time on whether or not the U.S. would continue its evacuation mission. Biden previously vowed to continue a humanitarian evacuation after all U.S. troops withdraw from the country on Tuesday, and he said that the Taliban have committed to not interfering with that process.
But the administration cautioned the media this week that as the evacuation continues, the threat of attacks, particularly from the Islamic State affiliate ISIS-Khorasan, would only increase.
“A big factor on the president’s mind, and the secretary of state noted this as well, is the real threat of ISIS-K, which is the reason why — and the President, again, received a briefing on that, as he does regularly from his national security team — that is why we are concerned about numbers around the airport,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at Wednesday’s press briefing. “That is why we are in direct contact, through a range of means, with individuals about how and when to come to the airport.”
The total death count from Thursday’s attacks remains unknown, although reports from Kabul estimate more than 100 casualties.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby additionally confirmed that the attacks killed “a number” of U.S. service members.
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This is a developing story and will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
