Afghanistan LIVE: At least 13 dead in twin blasts outside Kabul airport

Afghanistan crisis LIVE updates: Indian government has called for an all-party meeting on the developments in Afghanistan after Taliban takeover. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

1:11 AM

Nancy Pelosi briefed on 12 US troops killed in Kabul

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a phone call after the attacks in Kabul on Thursday that also killed at least 12 U.S. service members, including 11 Marines and one Navy medic.

 

Pelosi's office dismissed the House Republican leadership's calls to bring Congress back into session as empty stunts amid the extraordinary evacuation of American citizens and others from Afghanistan.

 

Right now, American heroes are risking & giving their lives to execute an extraordinarily dangerous evacuation, Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill said on Twitter. What's not going to help evacuate American citizens is more empty stunts & distraction.

11:58 PM

IS Khorasan prime suspect in Kabul airport attack

The prime suspect for the suicide attacks at Kabul airport on Thursday is the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan known as Islamic State Khorasan Province (Isis-K or ISKP), The Guardian reported.

 

Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to US President Joe Biden, had said on Sunday that there is an acute and "persistent" threat to the continuing evacuations from the Afghan capital from Isis-K, which takes its name Khorasan from that used by a series of Muslim imperial rulers for a swath of land stretching from Iran to the western Himalayas.

 

The warning, which focused attention on a group that has hitherto had a very low international profile, was echoed this week by British and Western European officials. Many have been worried by an intensification of attacks linked to Isis-K in recent months.

11:17 PM

Two suicide attacks outside Kabul airport; Russia says 13 dead

Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. At least 13 people were killed and 15 wounded, Russian officials said.

 

Several Marines were killed and a number of other American military were wounded, a U.S. official said. It was not clear if those deaths were included in the Russian toll.

 

One of the bombers struck people standing knee-deep in a wastewater canal under the sweltering sun, throwing bodies into the fetid water. Those who moments earlier had hoped to get on flights out could be seen carrying the wounded to ambulances in a daze, their own clothes darkened with blood.

10:05 PM

Kabul blasts leave many dead, US too confirms casualties

A blast rocked the Kabul airport, which is thronged by crowds of desperate Afghans seeking to flee the country after the Taliban takeover, on Thursday, causing numerous casualties, including US personnel. There was also a blast at a nearby hotel, causing more casualties.

 

"We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US and civilian casualties. We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate. We will continue to update," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a tweet.

 

A Taliban leader said that at least 11 people, including women and children, were killed, and a number of Taliban guards got injured in the blast.

9:18 PM

Joe Biden to meet with governors willing to help Afghan refugees

A world away from the evacuation violence in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden was meeting Thursday with a bipartisan group of governors from across the U.S. who have said they want to help resettle Afghans fleeing their now Taliban-ruled country.

 

The White House meeting was taking place days before a Tuesday deadline for the U.S. to halt evacuations of Americans and vulnerable Afghans from the airport in Kabul, and to withdraw from the country entirely after 20 years of engagement.

 

Some governors have said they want to help temporarily house or resettle Afghans in their communities because many aided the U.S. war effort and now fear retribution from the Taliban for that assistance. Officials say the U.S. must keep its word to help these Afghans.

 

But some conservatives have been sounding alarms about a new influx of refugees to the U.S., coming on top of large groups of Central American migrants and unaccompanied children trying to enter the U.S. through the border with Mexico.

8:50 PM

Biden to meet with governors willing to help Afghan refugees

A world away from the evacuation violence in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden was meeting Thursday with a bipartisan group of governors from across the U.S. who have said they want to help resettle Afghans fleeing their now Taliban-ruled country, AP reported.

The White House meeting was taking place days before a Tuesday deadline for the U.S. to halt evacuations of Americans and vulnerable Afghans from the airport in Kabul, and to withdraw from the country entirely after 20 years of engagement.

Some governors have said they want to help temporarily house or resettle Afghans in their communities because many aided the U.S. war effort and now fear retribution from the Taliban for that assistance. Officials say the U.S. must keep its word to help these Afghans.

8:37 PM

Pentagon confirms a second explosion in Kabul

8:16 PM

Kabul airport explosion appears to be suicide attack, U.S. officials say

An explosion outside Kabul's airport amid a huge evacuation effort from Afghanistan appeared to be caused by a suicide bomb, U.S. officials said on Thursday, citing an initial report and cautioning that it could change, according to Reuters.

 

8:10 PM

Kabul airport blast kills at least 13, including kids, say Taliban

An explosion outside Kabul airport killed at least 13 people, including children, and wounded many Taliban guards, a Taliban official told Reuters.

8:02 PM

Kerala Governor moved by plight of Afghans, students

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Thursday said he was shaken to the core by the plight of the people of Afghanistan in the wake of the recent political developments in that country, IANS reported.

"Who comes to power there is an entirely different matter... what pains me more are the reports of the hardships and tortures the common masses of the country are undergoing there," Khan said.

He was addressing a delegation of stranded Afghan students including Ishaq Ghayoor, Wali Rahmani, Farzana Amiri, Rasheeda Shahabi here, at a meeting organised by NGO Sarhad President Sanjay Nahar with other personalities present.

7:55 PM

Hundreds of displaced families seek food and shelter in Kabul

7:42 PM

Biden has been briefed on Kabul explosion: Pentagon

There has been an explosion outside the Kabul airport, the Pentagon press secretary said on Thursday, adding that it was unclear whether there were casualties amid the large evacuation effort in Afghanistan's capital.
 

U.S. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the explosion, according to a White House official. Biden was in a meeting with security officials about the situation in Afghanistan, where the United States is in the final steps of ending its 20-year war, when the explosion was first reported, according to a person familiar with the matter.
 

The United States has been racing to airlift its citizens and some Afghan citizens from Kabul before its military is set to fully withdraw from Afghanistan on Aug. 31.

7:27 PM

Explosion outside Kabul airport, casualties unclear

7:18 PM

'Overwhelming majority' airlifted from Afghanistan, says British PM

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that the "overwhelming majority" of people eligible for evacuation from Kabul airport have now left Afghanistan, PTI reported.

Johnson also reiterated that the UK government will do "everything we can" to get those remaining out of the country soon after warnings were issued of an "imminent" and "very lethal" terrorist attack from an Islamic State (ISIS) Afghanistan affiliate dubbed Islamic State Khorasan or ISIS-K.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to British military's Permanent Joint Headquarters in north London to meet troops involved in evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, Johnson said, "around 15,000" people have already been evacuated by British troops.

7:14 PM

Situation in Afghanistan 'extremely complex': Former PM Deve Gowda