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Attack Overview
On August 26, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate where U.S. troops were searching evacuees attempting to depart the country. The bombing killed at least 170 people as well as the 13 U.S. service members.
The attack was the deadliest enemy strike against U.S. forces in Afghanistan since 2011, when militants shot down a Chinook helicopter, killing 30 U.S. troops on board. Eighteen US service members were injured in addition to the 13 dead. ISIS in Khorasan, known as ISIS-K, claimed that an ISIS militant carried out the suicide attack.
On August 28, the US retaliated for suicide attack by conducting a drone strike in Nangahar, a province considered a stronghold for ISIS-K. The Pentagon said two “high value targets” were killed in the strike and a third individual injured but gave no further details. All three casualties are thought to have been travelling together in the vehicle that was hit.
On Sunday, the United States carried out a defensive airstrike in Kabul, targeting a suspected ISIS-K car bomb that posed an "imminent" threat to the airport, US Central Command said. Sunday's drone strike was the second by US forces targeting ISIS-K over the span of three days. "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," said US CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Bill Urban. "We are confident we successfully hit the target. Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material."
On Monday, as many as five rockets were launched at Kabul airport, but a US missile defense system intercepted them, and zero casualties were reported as a result of the attack. Local news reports said the attack was carried out from a Kabul neighborhood not far away from the airport using a modified vehicle to launch the rockets.
Despite the attack, the US completed its withdrawal on Monday. In announcing the completion of the evacuation and war effort, Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said the last planes took off from Kabul airport at 3:29 p.m. Washington time, or one minute before midnight in Kabul. More than 122,000 people were flown out of the country since late July by U.S. military and coalition aircraft, including at least 5,526 U.S. citizens. The White House acknowledged that “100 to 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan with some intention to leave. Most of those who remain are dual citizens, long-time residents who had earlier decided to stay because of their family roots in Afghanistan.”
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