Following Taliban’s conquest of Kabul, attention quickly turned to the hottest spot, just five kilometers from the city center, where Hamid Karzai International Airport is located, with its famous military base that can accommodate more than 100 aircraft. The last chapter of the US adventure in the mountains of Afghanistan was to be written in that airport, and was to be stained with tails of flames and columns of smoke.
Hours Before the Bombing
On August 26, the US Department of State released a warning to its citizens in Afghanistan, “U.S. citizens should avoid traveling to the airport and avoid airport gates at this time.”
The US Embassy stressed the warning on its website, explaining that due to security threats, citizens should avoid Kabul airport and its gates unless they receive other instructions from a representative of the US government.
The embassy also called on the Americans who were at the airport gates at the time to leave immediately, advising them to always be careful, especially among large crowds, and to follow the instructions of the local authorities, especially regarding movement restrictions and curfews.
The Australian Foreign Ministry warned of “a very high risk of a terrorist attack.”
In turn, London issued a similar warning, which read, “If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location and await further advice.”
The UK Minister of State for the Armed Forces, James Hebbey, warned that there is “very, very credible” intelligence that some militants are planning an imminent attack on those gathering at Kabul airport in an attempt to flee Afghanistan.
The US, UK, and Australia called on their citizens to move away “as quickly as possible” from Kabul Airport, due to “terrorist dangers.”
Concerns escalated and warnings continued coming this time through the US President Joe Biden and the Pentagon, who spoke of an ISIS attack on Kabul airport.
Notably, many sources revealed that warnings of attacks on the airport had surfaced three days before the bombings.
One Day Before the Bombing
Meanwhile, CNN reported that concerns about security around the HKIA in Kabul stepped up based on information about “a very specific threat” from ISIS-Khorasan, about planned attacks against crowds outside the airport.
The US believed ISIS-K, which is a sworn enemy of the Taliban, wants to create mayhem at the airport and had intelligence streams suggesting it is capable and planning to carry out multiple attacks, according to a US defense official quoted by CNN.
The Day of the Incident
On August 26, three bombings occurred, involving two attacks on the airport. The first targeted the crowd near the eastern Abbey Gate, one of the airport’s three gates, where people were waiting to board the planes and leave Afghanistan. According to Al Jazeera’s correspondent, Hamidullah Muhammad Shah, who quoted a Taliban source, the attack was a suicide bombing near a British forces camp where Afghans wishing to leave were gathering. The second bombing occurred at a nearby hotel called Baron Hotel.
As for the third bombing, which was the most powerful, it was defused by the American forces to dispose of equipment, weapons, and ammunition that were inside the airport. It came immediately after the first two ones, and the spokesperson of the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, pointed out the explosion shocked the capital city.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense said that two separate explosions occurred outside Kabul Airport and did not result in damage or casualties among the Turkish forces.
Al Jazeera correspondent Suhaib Al Asa also reported that he heard a third explosion in the vicinity of the airport, the sound of which was much stronger than the two previous explosions that rocked Kabul airport.
Who Is Behind the Attack?
Amaq Agency, a media organ of ISIS, quickly claimed responsibility for one of those bombings, reporting that “a fighter from the Islamic State managed today to penetrate all the security fortifications imposed by the American forces and the Taliban militia around the capital, Kabul, and was able to reach a large gathering of translators and collaborators with the American army at the Baron camp near the airport.”
Later, ISIS announced that the perpetrator of the operation was Abdul Rahman Al-Lughari, who was released from an Afghan prison after the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15.
Extent of the Damage and Losses
Later during the same day, the commander of US Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, held a video conference to announce that 12 individuals from the American forces were killed and 15 others were wounded in both attacks on the HKIA in the Afghan capital, Kabul. McKenzie held ISIS responsible for the two attacks and pointed out that “two suicide bombers, assessment indicates they belonged to the ISIS, carried out the Kabul attacks, and an exchange of fire ensued between the ISIS militants and the US forces.”
However, in February 2022, the Pentagon released the results of a military investigation reporting military officials who provided a detailed and accurate account of the bombing. They described the final toll of the injured and dead as “so disastrous” and could not have been prevented.
In detail, the investigation concluded that a suicide bomber carrying 20 pounds of explosives carried out the attack alone, and that the killing of more than 170 Afghans and 13 US troops could not have been prevented. The US troops toll involved 11 US Marines, a sailor and a soldier who were checking the papers of thousands of Afghans who were frantically trying to board one of the crowded flights leaving the country after the Taliban took control.
International Reactions
Internationally, several countries, including Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, strongly condemned the bombings that targeted the HKIA in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Along the same lines, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, denounced the terrorist attacks that occurred in the vicinity of Kabul airport, expressing his support for both the wounded and the families of the dead. The UN Security Council assumed a similar position, condemning in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attacks that occurred near the airport.
As for the US response, the Pentagon issued a statement two days after the incident, in which it announced that it had carried out a UAV airstrike in Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, east of Kabul, and that initial indicators pointed that “we killed the target,” and that “there is no information about civilian casualties.” The US Central Command did not clarify whether the target was related to the airport attack.
In turn, the White House said that the next few days will likely be the most dangerous for the US evacuation operation, during which “the Pentagon transferred 111,000 individuals out of Afghanistan over the past two weeks.”
