U.S. starts troop withdrawal from Kabul; hits Islamic State with drone attack
According to REUTERS, U.S. troops have begun their withdrawal from Kabul airport, the Pentagon said on Saturday, following a two-week scramble by Washington and its allies to fly out their nationals and Afghans at risk of reprisals under Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers.
As it neared the end of a 20-year military involvement in the country, the United States said it had killed two Islamic State militants planning attacks in Afghanistan, following a deadly suicide bombing outside the airport on Thursday.
American officials also warned of a high risk of further attacks by the group - enemies of both the West and the Taliban - as it winds up its mission by a Tuesday deadline set by President Joe Biden.
Biden promised on Thursday that Washington would hunt down the perpetrators after scores of Afghans and 13 U.S. troops were killed in Thursday's blast, the most lethal incident for U.S. troops in Afghanistan in a decade.
An overnight U.S. drone attack killed two Islamic State planners and wounded another in Nangarhar province, U.S. Army Major General William Taylor said on Saturday, referring to an eastern area that borders Pakistan.
The Taliban condemned the U.S. strike.
"The Americans should have informed us (Taliban) before conducting the air strike, it was a clear attack on Afghan territory," a Taliban spokesman told Reuters, adding that two women and a child were wounded in the attack.
The Taliban have said they have arrested some suspects involved in the airport blast.
Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also said the Taliban would take over the airport "very soon", after U.S. forces withdraw, and announce a full cabinet in the coming days.
The Western-backed government and Afghan army melted away as the hardline Islamist militants entered the capital on Aug. 15, leaving an administrative vacuum that has bolstered fears of a financial collapse and widespread hunger.
Mujahid told Reuters the group had appointed governors and police chiefs in all but one of Afghanistan's 34 provinces and would act to solve the country's economic problems.
