The US drone strike on the Islamic State in Afghanistan killed two of the terror group\u2019s operatives \u2014 but the Pentagon believes another terrorist attack \u2026<\/b>
\nThe US drone strike on the Islamic State in Afghanistan killed two of the terror group\u2019s operatives \u2014 but the Pentagon believes another terrorist attack in Kabul is imminent. Major Gen. William Taylor said that a \u201cplanner\u201d and a \u201cfacilitator\u201d were dead following Friday\u2019s operation. Officials conceded that ISIS-K remains a deadly threat, and President Biden warned Saturday afternoon a new attack \u201cis highly likely in the next 24-36 hours.\u201d Officials refused to identify the individuals killed by name, or say if they played specific roles in the suicide bomb attack at the Kabul airport that killed 13 US service members and at least 169 Afghans. The lack of detail led some experts to conclude the two were not high-value targets. \u201cI\u2019m not gonna talk about intelligence matters one way or the other,\u201d said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. Kirby characterized the two targets as confirmed operatives for Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, the local affiliate of the jihadist group that took credit for Thursday\u2019s bloodshed. \u201cThey were ISIS-K planners and facilitators, and that\u2019s enough reason there alone,\u201d Kirby said. \u201cThe fact that two of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the earth, that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d Biden said it won\u2019t be the last US strike on the terrorists. \u201cI said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have,\u201d Biden said in a statement released Saturday afternoon. \u201cThis strike was not the last. We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay.\u201d Taking those two terrorists out didn\u2019t change the dynamics of the evacuation operation. \u2018\u201dWe aren\u2019t thinking for a minute that what happened yesterday gets us in the clear,\u201d Kirby said. \u201cNot a minute. But do we believe we hit valid targets, bad guys who can do bad things and can plan bad missions? Absolutely. And do we think that will have some impact on their ability going forward? Absolutely.\u201d The Taliban criticized the drone strike and said they should have been informed before it took place and that women and children were among the victims. The US military said there were no civilian casualties. The Taliban also claimed to have arrested some suspects involved in the airport attack. Kirby said the bodies of the soldiers killed in the airport attack were on their way back to the U.S. He would not say if Biden would meet the transport when it arrives. Even as the US continues to process people desperately trying to evacuate Afghanistan before Tuesday\u2019s US deadline, some troops have started to leave Kabul, Kirby said. \u201cThe retrograde has begun,\u201d he said of the 5,000 troops deployed there to conduct the evacuation. Gen. Taylor said 32 US military flights and 34 allied flights got 6,800 people out of Kabul from Friday to Saturday, bringing the total number of evacuees over 117,000. Roughly 5,400 of those were American citizens. \u201cThis is an incredible number of people who are now safer, thanks to the heroism of the young men and women who are putting their lives on the line each day to evacuate Americans and vulnerable Afghans out of Kabul,\u201d Taylor said. Flights are beginning to bring Afghan evacuees to US soil, including one scheduled to fly Saturday from Italy to Philadelphia. US military bases in several states are readying space for about 21,000 evacuees. The general said the US military still controls the airport, denying Taliban claims that it was holding some positions within the facility in preparation of taking control when the Americans depart. But State Department officials warned Americans to avoid the airport because of security threats, and told those desperately waiting at the gates to leave. The Taliban deployed extra forces Saturday in a bid to prevent large crowds from forming near the airport and creating new targets for terror attacks. Areas where large crowds had gathered in recent days hoping to escape the country following the Taliban takeover were largely empty. New checkpoints also sprang up on the roads leading to the airport, some manned by uniformed Taliban fighters with US-supplied Humvees and night-vision goggles captured from Afghan security forces. Taliban members were reportedly letting only people with US passports go through, sealing off possible escape routes for Afghans. Access to the airport isn\u2019t the only thing blocked. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside a bank in Kabul amid a cash shortage in the country that has seen ATM withdrawals limited to $200 per day. Criticism of the chaotic situation continued. \u201cI\u2019ve lost my son,\u201d said Jim McCollum, father of 20-year-old Marine Rylee McCollum, who was killed Thursday. \u201cWe gave them everything they need, and we are pinned down a the airport. I\u2019m scared sh-tless to see what\u2019s going to happen next, and what\u2019s going to come our way.\u201d While officials pledged that the US will continue the evacuation until Tuesday\u2019s deadline, most NATO allies flew their troops out of Kabul Saturday, ending two decades of involvement in the war-ravaged country. The UK was carrying out its final evacuation flights, though Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to \u201cshift heaven and earth\u201d to get more of those at risk from Taliban reprisals to Britain by other means. Britain\u2019s ambassador to Afghanistan, Laurie Bristow, said in a video from the Kabul airport that it was \u201ctime to close this phase of the operation.\u201d<\/p>\n