The United States and allies urged people to move away from Kabul airport amid a serious threat of a terror attack by Islamic State
The terror plot threat by Islamic State (IS) militants have forced Western troops hurry their efforts to evacuate as many people as possible before the August 31 deadline to leave Afghanistan.
That pressure to complete the evacuations of thousands of foreigners and Afghans who helped Western nations such as America during that 20-year war against the Taliban has now officially intensified.
All U.S. and allied troops are due to leave the airport next week
In an alert issued on Wednesday evening, the U.S. embassy in Kabul advised citizens to avoid travelling to the International Kabul airport, stating that those already at the gates should leave immediately due to unspecified “security threats”.
The UK has also sent the same stark warning – requesting people in the airport area to move away. British armed forces minister, James Heappey stated that intelligence of a possible suicide bomb attack by IS militants had become “much firmer”.
“I can’t stress the desperation of the situation enough. The threat is credible, it is imminent, it is lethal. We wouldn’t be saying this if we weren’t genuinely concerned about offering Islamic State a target that is just unimaginable,”
Australia issues urgent warning
Australia has now also issued a warning for people to stay away from the airport while Belgium ended its evacuation operations because of the danger of attack.
The Dutch government issued a warning, stating that it expected to carry out its last evacuation flight on Thursday – however, leaving behind some who are eligible to travel to the Netherlands.
But despite the warnings, a Western diplomat in Kabul told local media that areas outside the airport gates were “incredibly crowded”
The Taliban, whose fighters are guarding the perimeter outside the airport, are enemies of the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), after an old name for the region.
