Late Friday night, the Pentagon announced a drone strike against ISIS-K in retaliation for the deadly bombing at the Kabul airport. The mission was believed to have killed the target: a planner who military officials believe was involved in planning future attacks.
The American airstrike was retaliation for the attack at the Kabul airport Thursday, in which 13 U.S. service members were killed along with at least 169 Afghans. America began learning more about those fallen service members - 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman and one Army soldier -- on Friday and into Saturday.
And with only three days left until Biden's Aug. 31 withdrawal, evacuations continued for Americans, Afghan allies and others seeking to escape the rule of the fundamentalist Taliban.
More:What is ISIS-K? Islamic State terror group carried out Kabul attack that killed 13 U.S. troops
6,800 more people evacuated from Afghanistan
WASHINGTON – The White House on Saturday released the latest stats on evacuations from Afghanistan.
From about 3 a.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday, about 6,800 people were evacuated from Kabul. The evacuees left the country on 32 U.S. military flights carrying about 4,000 people and 34 coalition flights holding 2,800 people.
Since Aug. 14, the U.S. has evacuated or helped evacuate about 111,900 people. Since the end of July, 117,500 people have been moved out of the country.
–Michael Collins
Final UK evacuation flight for Afghans departs
LONDON — Britain’s defense ministry says the final U.K. evacuation flight for Afghan nationals has left Kabul, as the country’s ambassador announced that it’s “time to close this phase of the operation.”
The U.K. military says further flights over the weekend will bring home British troops and diplomats, though they may also carry some remaining U.K. or Afghan civilians.
Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Laurie Bristow, said from Kabul airport it was “time to close this phase of the operation now.”
“But we haven’t forgotten the people who still need to leave,” he said in a video posted on Twitter. “We’ll continue to do everything we can to help them. Nor have we forgotten the brave, decent people of Afghanistan. They deserve to live in peace and security.”
--The Associated Press
More:Satellite images, graphics, and maps show how fatal airport explosion ripped through Kabul
Taliban deploy extra forces around Kabul airport
The Taliban have deployed extra forces around Kabul’s airport to prevent large crowds from gathering after a deadly suicide attack two days earlier.
The massive U.S.-led airlift is winding down ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline, with many allies having completed their own operations.
The Taliban on Saturday set up new layers of checkpoints on roads leading to the airport, some manned by uniformed fighters with Humvees and night-vision goggles captured from Afghan security forces.
Areas where large crowds have massed for the past two weeks were largely empty. A suicide attack Thursday by an Islamic State affiliate killed 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, and there are concerns that the group could strike again.
--The Associated Press
They made the 'ultimate sacrifice': The US service members killed in Afghanistan airport bombing
Names and other details of the 13 U.S. service members killed in Thursday's Kabul airport attack began to become public on Friday through family and friends:
- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, 20, Jackson, Wyoming
- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, 20, of Wentzville, Missouri
- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David Espinoza, 20, of Laredo, Texas
- Navy Hospital Corpsman Max Soviak, of Berlin Heights, Ohio
- Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Riverside County, California
- Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California
- Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, 31, of Daggett County, Utah
- Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, 23, of Red Oak, Iowa
- U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee
President Joe Biden commended the "bravery and sacrifice" of the U.S military Friday, calling the 13 deaths “tragic” but saying they died for a "worthy mission."
Learn who they were:They made the 'ultimate sacrifice': The US service members killed in Afghanistan airport bombing
--Jeanine Santucci
Biden said US would 'hunt' down Kabul airport attackers. A day later, a drone strike killed an ISIS-K planner.
President Joe Biden warned those behind a deadly terrorist attack that killed and wounded American service members and Afghan civilians in Kabul on Thursday that the U.S. would “hunt you down and make you pay.”
A day later, he followed through on that threat.
The Pentagon announced late Friday that a military drone strike targeted a planner for ISIS-K, the first American attack on the terrorist group following a bomb attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The airport attack – one of America's deadliest days in the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan – drew fierce censure from Republicans, stoked fears about the final days of America's evacuation mission and threatened to define Biden's still-young presidency as one of chaos instead of the competence he promised on the campaign trail.
Read the rest here:Biden said US would 'hunt' down Kabul airport attackers. A day later, a drone strike killed an ISIS-K planner.
--Michael Collins
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