Taliban fighters investigate a damaged car after multiple rockets were fired in Kabul on Aug 30, 2021. (WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP)
WASHINGTON / PARIS – US anti-missile defenses intercepted as many as five rockets that were fired at Kabul's airport early on Monday morning, a US official said, as the United States rushed to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end its longest war.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the rocket attack on Kabul airport on Monday, the group's Nasher News said on its Telegram channel.
"By the grace of God Almighty, the soldiers of the Caliphate targeted Kabul International Airport with six Katyusha rockets," it said.
The United States and allies have evacuated about 114,400 people – including foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans – in an operation that began a day before Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug 15, but tens of thousands more desperate Afghans face being left behind
The US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters initial reports did not indicate any US casualties from the latest rocket attack, but that information could change.
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Afghan media reports said the rocket attack was mounted from the back of a vehicle. According to Pajhwok news agency several rockets struck different parts of the Afghan capital.
US and allied forces are hurrying to evacuate their remaining citizens and at-risk Afghans before completing their own withdrawal by Tuesday to meet a deadline agreed between the Taliban and Washington.
The mission became more urgent and dangerous after an Islamic State suicide bomb attack on Thursday killed 13 US military personnel and scores of Afghan civilians outside the airport.
The United States and allies have evacuated about 114,400 people – including foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans – in an operation that began a day before Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug 15, but tens of thousands more desperate Afghans face being left behind.
Two US officials said the "core" diplomatic staff had withdrawn on Monday morning. They did not say whether this included top envoy Ross Wilson, expected to be among the last to leave before the final troops themselves.
US President Joe Biden reconfirmed his order for commanders to do "whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground" after he was briefed on Monday's rocket fire, the White House said. He was told airport operations continued uninterrupted, it added.
Two US officials told Reuters evacuations would continue on Monday, prioritizing people deemed at extreme risk. Other countries have also put in last minute requests to bring out people under that category, the officials said.
The Taliban will take full control of Kabul airport after the American withdrawal on Tuesday, Qatar's Al Jazeera television network cited an unidentified Taliban source as saying.
As the evacuations wind down, a "far greater humanitarian crisis" looms ahead for the nation of 39 million people, the UN refugee agency warned.
Agency chief Filippo Grandi reiterated a call for borders to remain open and for more countries to share the "humanitarian responsibility" of accepting refugees with Iran and Pakistan, which already host 2.2 million Afghans.
"More resettlement options are sorely needed. They are critically important, not only to save lives but also as a demonstration of good will," added Grandi, whose agency said last week that up to 500,000 Afghans could flee by year-end.
Biden mourns US dead
Biden attended a ceremony on Sunday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to honor members of the US military killed in Thursday's attack.
Biden shut his eyes and tilted his head back as the flag-draped transfer caskets carrying the remains emerged from a military plane.
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None of the fallen service members was over the age of 31, and five were just 20, as old as the war in Afghanistan itself. Biden has vowed to avenge the Islamic State attack.
A US drone strike on Sunday killed a suicide car bomber who Pentagon officials said was preparing to attack the airport on behalf of ISIS-K, a local affiliate of Islamic State that is an enemy of both the West and the Taliban.
US Central Command said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties from the strike, the second by the US military against suspected ISIS-K militants.
"We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties," it said.
Taliban senior leader Abdul Haq Wasiq denounced the US air strikes in Afghanistan and described the move as a violation of US-Taliban peace deal, local media reported.
The air strikes inside Afghanistan violated the Doha agreement inked in February last year and "America does not have the right to conduct operations in Afghanistan soil," Tolo News quoted the official as saying.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told media that two persons were killed and wounded four others, including two children and two women.
Mujahid said the United States should have shared its intention for the attack with the Taliban before taking action.
READ MORE: US drone strike targets IS attack planner in Afghanistan
Taliban Fateh fighters, a "special forces" unit, stand guard along a street in Kabul on Aug 29, 2021, as suicide bomb threats hung over the final phase of the US military's airlift operation from Kabul, with President Joe Biden warning another attack was highly likely before the evacuations end. (AAMIR QURESHI / AFP)
The departure of the last troops will mark the end of the US-led military intervention in Afghanistan, which began in late 2001, after the al Qaeda Sept 11 attacks on the United States.
US-backed forced ousted a Taliban government that had provided safe haven for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was finally killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.
Mujahid has said the group will announce a full Cabinet in the coming days, and that the difficulties will subside quickly once the new administration is up and running.
Meanwhile, France, Britain and Germany are working on a United Nations proposal aimed at establishing a safe zone in Kabul to allow safe passage for people trying to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.
Macron, who said France had begun discussions with the Taliban to explore how further evacuations might proceed, said the resolution would be brought on Monday to an emergency UN Security Council meeting of veto-wielding members.
READ MORE: IS claim Kabul attack that killed dozens, Biden vows retribution
"There are some discussions to see how flights could be re-established," Macron said in a TV interview broadcast by France's TF1, adding that Qatar was also helping negotiations.
"What we have proposed, and what we plan to bring to the UN Security Council along with Britain and Germany is a solution that we have used before in other operations, which would involve creating a zone allowing people to arrive at that airport."
With Xinhua inputs