The strike came as the United States winds down a historic airlift.
The Pentagon confirmed Sunday that the U.S. military conducted a drone strike in Kabul, successfully destroying an “imminent” threat to the airport where American troops are conducting a massive evacuation effort. “U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamad Karzai International airport,” Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement. “We are confident we successfully hit the target.” Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated that it contained “a substantial amount” of explosives, Urban added. The military is assessing the possibility that there were civilian casualties. There were few initial details about the incident, as well as a rocket that struck a neighborhood just northwest of the airport, killing a child. The two strikes initially appeared to be separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce. The attack comes as the United States winds down a historic airlift that saw tens of thousands evacuated from Kabul’s international airport, the scene of much of the chaos that engulfed the Afghan capital since the Taliban took over two weeks ago. After an Islamic State affiliate’s suicide attack that killed over 180 people, the Taliban increased its security around the airfield as Britain ended its evacuation flights Saturday. U.S. military cargo planes continued their runs into the airport Sunday, ahead of a Tuesday deadline earlier set by President Joe Biden to withdraw all troops from America’s longest war.
