The United States and its allies warned people to avoid travelling to Kabul airport on Thursday as fears of a potential terror attack threatened evacuation efforts.
The threat of an “imminent, lethal attack” was the latest setback for the massive airlift ahead of President Joe Biden’s fast-approaching deadline for all U.S. forces to withdraw from the country.
As thousands continued to crowd the airport in an effort to flee in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover, other Western nations also raised the alarm and some said they would have to end their evacuations.
In an alert issued on Wednesday evening, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul urged Americans not to travel to the airport without individual instructions from a government representative, citing security threats outside.
It urged citizens at three specific gates to “leave immediately.”
A State Department spokesperson called it a dynamic and volatile security situation on the ground.
Allies who have joined Washington in the rush to evacuate their citizens and vulnerable Afghans ahead of Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline issued similar warnings about the security situation.
“There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack,” the British foreign office said in updated travel advice late Wednesday, telling people to avoid the airport and “move away to a safe location.”
On Thursday, U.K. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told NBC News’ U.K. partner Sky News that an “imminent, lethal attack” could happen at Kabul airport in a matter of hours.
Australia also urged its citizens to stay away from the airport, warning of a “very high threat of a terrorist attack” at the airport.
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Kabul airport has been a flashpoint for chaotic scenes and security fears since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan’s capital on Aug.15.
Over the weekend, U.S. defense officials warned about specific threats from ISIS against those trying to leave Afghanistan.
Biden has also warned about the risk of attack from the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State group, known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), after an old name for the region.
“Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both U.S. and Allied forces and innocent civilians,” he said on Tuesday.
The president has stuck to his deadline the U.S. mission to end in spite of criticism at home and abroad.
The Taliban have warned that any delay of the U.S. exit would be crossing a “red line” that will have consequences, but they have so far kept up their promise not to attack any western forces as they evacuate.
Two decades after a U.S.-led invasion toppled their regime in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the…
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