It’s a nightmare from which there doesn’t seem to be any awakening. On August 15, 2021, the dreaded Taliban overran Kabul and took control of Afghanistan. The evacuation at the airport from the panicked crowds is sinking into deadly chaos. Two bomb attacks followed on Thursday afternoon. At least 170 people were killed and 200 injured.
A suicide bomber detonates the explosive vest at Hamid Karzai Airport, just five meters from Abbey Gate. Thousands of people are standing in front of the “Gateway to Freedom”, hoping for admission to the maneuvering area that will save them (Blick reported).
The second explosion goes off in front of the Hotel Baron, a British base. The detonations tear families with children to shreds and kill 13 US soldiers. But 28 Taliban fighters also die. The Afghan offshoot of the so-called Islamic State is committed to the bloodbath. The name of the splinter group: Islamic State – Khorasan, short IS-K.
More attacks could follow
General Kenneth F. McKenzie (64) expects further attacks at the airport. There could be car bombs or rocket attacks, the commander of the United States Central Command told US media. The situation in Kabul is getting increasingly out of hand and US President Joe Biden (78) is being criticized.
Nevertheless, the White House is sticking to the evacuations until August 31st. So far, the US Air Force and its allies have flown more than 100,000 people from Kabul. “We will not be intimidated,” said the President during a press conference. “We will hunt down the terrorists, hit their assets, their executives and their institutions.” The new allies in the fight against IS could be the Taliban of all people.
Taliban spokesman Sabiullah Mujahid assured the Islamists at the first press conference: Afghan soil posed no threat to the world, and foreign fighters would not be allowed to act against other countries from Afghanistan. Because, according to the Taliban: “We don’t want any problems with the international community.”
IS sees the Taliban as traitors to its own cause
IS is a declared enemy of the Taliban. “He accuses them of negotiating with the Americans and pledging not to attack any Americans. They see that as a betrayal of their own cause, ”says Middle East expert Erich Gysling (75). In addition, the Taliban would only want to establish an emirate in Afghanistan, while the IS is striving for a caliphate beyond the borders.
Above all, it would be about claims to power, says the Austrian-Afghan author and journalist Emran Feroz Vocher to the “IPG Journal”. “Should IS in Afghanistan become a serious threat to the West, the US could certainly cooperate with the Taliban in combating it.” It wouldn’t be the first time, says Feroz. “Last year there were air strikes by the Americans against IS in Kunar province, while the Taliban attacked him on the ground.”