#isis k

August 27, 2021

By Nabih Bulos

KABUL (Los Angeles Times) — The family trudged up the hill to the tap-tap of a pickax digging out the grave where Mushtaq would be buried.

It had been just a day since a bomb ripped through the massive crowd gathered outside the Kabul airport in hopes of being evacuated. Mushtaq was among the dead.

“No more Afghanistan,” said his 28-year-old brother, Jamil, as the harsh midday sun beat down. “We can’t live here.”

He gazed across the dust-swept slopes of Martyrs Hill, where other, equally somber processions picked their way among the headstones to where more loved ones were to be laid to rest.

More than 24 hours after the bombing, which was claimed by Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan, the full measure of the slaughter was still unclear. As more of the injured succumbed to their wounds Friday, the death toll jumped from 90 Afghans to at least 169, in addition to 13 U.S. service personnel.

The magnitude of the carnage — the extremists had chosen the site for maximum damage — seemed a preview of Afghanistan’s violent future under the Taliban, despite the group’s insistence that it would bring stability and order to a country that hasn’t seen much of either in decades.

But most of all, it increased people’s determination to flee.

“All people like me, we want to leave from any border we can,” explained Jamil, who like all ordinary Afghans interviewed for this story said he feared the Taliban and spoke on condition that his full name not be used.

The pickax continued its tap-tap...

International News Twelve of the 13 US service members killed in the August 26 Kabul airport bombing were "9/11 babies", according to media reports. The Pentagon released their names and biographies on August 28.

The victims, mostly aged from 20 to 25 years old, were born within a few years of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, which led the US to launch two lengthy and painful wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Xinhua news agency reported.

ALSO READ: Afghan children 'at greater risk than ever', top UNICEF official warns

"They never knew a US that was not at war, never lived in the world before the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, a country without ID checks in office buildings, metal detectors at schools, shoes X-rayed at the airport," said a Washington Post report on Sunday.

Alt-Media Is Lying: ISIS-K Isn't Fake, Russia's Been Warning About It For Years!

#HappyThatChristIsRisen #DontYouTellMeHeCantDoIt #thePowerBelongsToJesus please stop saying that the hand of the LORD is not extended to the #taliban #islam #muslim #murderers #rapists #liars #wicked #harlots

कौन है आतंकी संगठन ISIS-खुरासान? जिसने काबुल के बम धमाकों की ली है जिम्मेदारी

इस्लामिक स्टेट खुरासान ने इस हमले की जिम्मेदारी ली है। इस संगठन ने दावा किया है कि फिदायीन हमलावरों में से एक का नाम अब्दुल रहमान अल-लोगरी है। Source by [author_name]

Oriana Gonzalez at Axios:

President Biden on Thursday said he has directed the Pentagon to develop plans to "strike" ISIS-K "assets, leadership and facilities" in response to the Kabul airport bombings.

What he's saying: "To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm know this: We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay," Biden said.

"These ISIS terrorists will not win. We will rescue the Americans, we will get our Afghan allies. Our mission will go on. America will not be intimidated. We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them stop our mission. We will continue the evacuation."

Biden added that the Aug. 31 deadline still stands, but said he will "grant" the U.S. military with additional forces if necessary.

Between the lines: Biden said the U.S. will continue trying to get Americans out of Afghanistan after U.S. troops have left, suggesting he expects some to be left behind.

The State Department earlier Thursday said that while they are in contact with Americans that remain in the country, "we know that dozens more do not wish to leave Afghanistan for a range of reasons."

The big picture: The bombings at the Kabul airport killed 12 U.S. troops and at least 60 Afghans. U.S. officials believe ISIS-K were likely behind the attack.

Reuters: 

Aug 26 (Reuters) - Islamic State struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport in a suicide bomb attack on Thursday, killing scores of civilians and 12 U.S. troops, and throwing into mayhem the airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans desperate to flee.

Kabul health officials were quoted as saying 60 civilians were killed. Video shot by Afghan journalists showed dozens of bodies strewn around a canal on the edge of the airport. At least two blasts rocked the area, witnesses said.

Islamic State said one of its suicide bombers targeted "translators and collaborators with the American army". U.S. officials also blamed the group.

It was believed to be the most U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan in a single incident since 30 U.S. personnel died when a helicopter was shot down in August 2011.

The U.S. deaths were the first in action in Afghanistan in 18 months, a fact likely to be cited by critics who accuse Biden of recklessly abandoning a stable and hard-won status quo by ordering an abrupt pullout.