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Afghanistan: rockets over Kabul on the eve of the departure of American troops

2021-08-30T12:31:40.730Z


Rockets were fired on Monday, August 30 morning towards Kabul airport, on the eve of the planned departure from Afghanistan, after 20 years of ...


Rockets were fired on Monday, August 30 morning towards Kabul airport, on the eve of the planned departure from Afghanistan, after 20 years of presence, of the American army which carries out its last evacuations under the threat of attacks of the Islamic State jihadist group.

Read also Afghanistan: high tension around Kabul airport as the August 31 deadline approaches

US President Joe Biden has set Tuesday as the deadline for withdrawing the last US troops from Afghanistan where they entered in 2001 to oust the Taliban from power, due to their refusal to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden, after the September 11 attacks.

The tension around the last phase of the evacuation operations is at its height since the attack on Thursday near the airport, claimed by the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K) and which made more than one hundred dead including 13 American soldiers.

The Americans, who immediately warned of new attacks, destroyed a vehicle loaded with explosives on Sunday in order to "

suppress an imminent threat

" from IS-K against the airport.

Washington has not completely ruled out that Sunday's strike may have claimed civilian lives.

It destroyed a car bomb on its way to the airport and a nearby house was also hit, according to a Taliban spokesperson.

SEE ALSO

- Afghanistan: after rocket fire, smoke rises near Kabul airport

Evacuation operations continue

On Monday, several rockets were fired at the airport, confirmed the White House, adding that the evacuation operations continued "

without interruption

". A Taliban official at the scene said five rockets were fired and stopped by the airport's missile defense system. An American drone then, according to him, targeted a car that had been used to launch rockets, nearly two kilometers from the airport. Even though these rockets do not appear to have claimed any victims, they have further heightened the anguish of residents living nearby.

The sound of rockets flying over our house woke us up.

We were afraid,

”one of them, called Abdullah, told AFP.

Since the Americans took control of the airport, we can't sleep properly.

We are constantly disturbed by gunshots, rockets, sirens or large planes.

"

Read alsoAfghanistan: a vehicle loaded with explosives linked to the Islamic State destroyed by an American airstrike in Kabul

Joe Biden justified his decision to withdraw American troops by his refusal to prolong this war any longer and by the fact that their mission had been accomplished with the death of Bin Laden, killed by American special forces in 2011 in Pakistan. But many analysts fear that the return to power of the Taliban could galvanize jihadist groups, such as ISIS, responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks committed in recent years in Afghanistan, or al-Qaida. In retaliation for Thursday's attack, the United States carried out a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two "

high-level

" members of the Afghan branch of ISIS and injuring a third. . They warned that it would not be “

the last

”.

The American channel CNN claimed that nine members of a family, including six children, were killed in the strike on Sunday. AFP was unable to confirm this toll, but local media also reported civilian casualties. "

We know that there were large and powerful explosions as a result of the destruction of the vehicle, indicating the presence of a large amount of explosive material inside, which may have caused additional casualties,

" he said. said US Army Central Command (Centcom) Sunday night. "

It is not clear what happened and we are continuing to investigate

."

SEE ALSO

- Afghanistan: women will be able to go to university but not in mixed classes and in "the spirit of Sharia"

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-08-30

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