A new attack on Kabul airport, after Thursday's deadly bombing, is "
very likely
" Sunday or Monday, according to Joe Biden, a few days before the end of the evacuations carried out by the United States, when many Afghans still hope to leave their country under threat from the Taliban.
"
The situation on the spot remains extremely dangerous and the threat of a terrorist attack on the airport remains high,
" the US president wrote in a statement released on Saturday evening.
"
Our commanders informed me that an attack was very likely within 24 to 36 hours
."
Read also Afghanistan: the two terrible weeks since the capture of Kabul by the Taliban
A few hours later, the American embassy in Kabul urged all Americans to leave the vicinity of the airport, as it had done in recent days, "
because of a specific and credible threat
".
Health officials from the former Afghan administration told AFP that around 90 people taken to hospitals in Kabul have died, and 150 injured, in the attack on Thursday near the capital's airport. .
Some local media reported a death toll of 170.
Thirteen American soldiers and two British also died.
This attack, claimed by the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K), triggered a retaliatory strike by the US military.
Two "
important targets
" of the EI-K group, "
organizers
" and "
operators
", were killed, and another injured in a drone strike in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced on Saturday, without revealing any names.
"
This strike was not the last,
" warned Joe Biden on Saturday night.
"
We will continue to hunt down anyone involved in this heinous attack and make them pay
."
A few days before the August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of American soldiers after 20 years of war, the evacuations of those who want to flee the new Taliban regime are coming to an end at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Read alsoThe British will stop their evacuations from Kabul this Saturday
Heavily armed, Taliban fighters circulated on Saturday on the grounds and in annex buildings of the airport, according to AFP journalists, under the gaze of soldiers from the US Marine corps from the roof of the passenger terminal.
The Taliban have cordoned off the roads leading to the airport and only allow authorized buses to pass.
AFP journalists saw more than a dozen buses unloading passengers at the airport's main gate on Saturday.
With the attack, the Taliban and the Americans were forced to collaborate more closely.
"
We have lists given by the Americans (...) If your name is on the list, you can pass,
" a Taliban official told AFP.
But there are no longer the thousands of people who had been massed for days outside the site, the last enclave occupied by Western forces in Afghanistan, in the hope of accessing the tarmac, AFP noted.
In total, around 112,000 people have been evacuated since August 14, the day before the Taliban seizure of power in Kabul, according to the latest figures from the US government.
Turkish officials have started talks with the Taliban to help get the airport back into service.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Taliban intended to oversee airport security and offered Ankara to take over logistics operations.
Subjected to floods of criticism at home and abroad for his handling of the Afghan crisis and the withdrawal of the US military, Joe Biden pledged to respect the deadline for the airlift.
NATO and the European Union had called after the attack to continue the evacuations despite everything.
Read also Joe Biden, accountant of the bloody American retirement from Afghanistan
The UK's evacuation operation in Afghanistan ended on Saturday with the departure of a flight carrying its last servicemen.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace estimated that up to 1,100 Afghans eligible to leave for Britain remained behind.
London will welcome them if they manage to leave the country by another means after the deadline, specified the head of the British armed forces, General Nick Carter, deeming "
heartbreaking
" not to have "been
able to get everyone out
" .
France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Sweden announced on Friday that they had completed their evacuation flights, like Germany, the Netherlands, Canada or Australia.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that France had already evacuated 2,834 people from Afghanistan and was conducting “
discussions
” with the Taliban and Qatar to continue the evacuation of threatened Afghans. These evacuations are planned jointly with Qatar which, within the framework of its discussions with the Taliban, has the possibility of "arranging airlift operations", specified Mr. Macron in Baghdad, where he was participating in a regional conference.