A multifaceted terrorist attack in Kabul killed 13 U.S. military service members and injured 15 more, stoking congressional fears that the evacuation of American citizens and Afghans who worked with the United States will collapse on a timetable dictated by terrorists.
“The ones who are gonna be really harmed by this are gonna be the [special issuance visa holders] — those Afghans who have not gotten out yet,” a Senate Republican aide said Thursday. “I think that window has really closed for them.”
President Joe Biden and military officials emphasized Thursday that the evacuation operation will continue, hours after an Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for the bombing. Yet the terrorist threat clogged the evacuation effort even before the attack occurred, as U.S. and allied officials perceived the looming danger but, unable to prevent the attack, could only issue warnings for civilians to avoid the area.
“There’s an ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack,” Australian officials warned in the hours before the attack. “Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you’re in the area of the airport, move to a safe location and await further advice.”
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The bombing cast a pall over the evacuation effort, which U.S. military leaders maintain is still underway.
“Let me be clear: While we are saddened by the loss of life, both U.S. and Afghans, we continue to execute the mission,” Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., commander of the U.S. Central Command, told reporters. “We’re still committed to flying people out, up until we terminate operations. At some point, you know, towards the end of the month.”
That’s just a few days away, of course. In the meantime, the evacuation planners have to grapple with the dilemma that they need to get people into the airport without presenting targets for additional attacks.
“As soon as the gate opens to allow in someone with a valid SIV credential, the gate would immediately become a mob scene where people would surge and push as many people through the gate opening as they could, which would result in the gate being shut down, nobody getting processed,” the Senate Republican aide said. “I don’t see the gates reopening with this security environment, because they weren’t really functioning before these attacks occurred.”
The attack also sparked a new round of disputes about the operation in Washington. “Under President Joe Biden, the United States has now experienced its deadliest day in Afghanistan since 2011,” Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican and former ambassador to Japan, said Thursday. “Sadly, it did not have to be this way, but it is exactly what I have feared as we have watched the chaotic and dire scenes around the airport in Kabul.”
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, paired a call for U.S. forces to “secure the airport and complete the massive evacuation of American citizens and vulnerable Afghans” with an implicit rebuke of the current security plans. “We can’t trust the Taliban with Americans’ security,” he said.
The Senate Republican aide likewise faulted Biden’s team for allowing Taliban forces to control the checkpoints close to the airport — but in the same breath acknowledged that a U.S.-dominated perimeter would bring its own vulnerabilities.
“Who knows what a Taliban checkpoint is like, how good they’re checking for bombs … obviously, they’re not very good,” the Senate Republican aide said, acknowledging that if U.S. forces didn’t control all the checkpoints, it would only be “a matter of time before a service-member gets shot manning a checkpoint. …It’s certainly an instance of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t.’”
Biden reiterated in a press conference Thursday that the evacuation will continue “to get as many people out as we can within the time frame that is allotted,” and other senior Democrats have signaled their support for ending this operation by the end of the month.
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“Once the airport and surrounding areas are secure, we must continue to evacuate Americans and others from Afghanistan,” Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said Thursday. “Any delay from the timetable will open us up to more dangers.”
