Attack at Kabul Airport in 2021

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2021 attacks at Kabul Airport resulted in two explosives in the crowd at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021 . At least 95 people died in the detonations, including at least 79 Afghan civilians, 13 US soldiers and three British nationals. At least 200 other people were injured. ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attacks.

background

In August 2021 , the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan during the withdrawal of NATO troops . An international evacuation was then initiated. On August 26, 2021, the United States still adhered to its withdrawal date: by August 31, 2021, it intends to withdraw all armed forces from the country. According to US President Joe Biden , no more evacuations should take place afterwards. Chaos and panic reigned at Kabul Airport, compounded by this announcement. In the days before the attack, several states had warned of a terrorist attack at the airport on the basis of assessments made by their own secret services, which were based on specific evidence. D ISIS-K, an offshoot of the so-called Islamic State that is active in Afghanistan , is considered one of the Taliban's greatest adversaries and had announced attacks.

attacks

At around 5:00 p.m. local time (1:20 p.m. UTC ), a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of the Abbey Gate ( location ) of Kabul Airport. The Abbey Gate is one of the corridors that lead to the civilian part on the south side of the airport and has been overcrowded with people willing to leave for several days. Gun fights broke out after the explosion. According to a general in the US armed forces, several IS fighters shot at civilians and soldiers. All gates at the airport were then closed.

According to initial reports, a second explosion should have occurred at the Baron Gate ( location ), named after the nearby Baron Hotel in Kabul. This gate is not far from the Abbey Gate. However, the US government changed its reports and later only confirmed the first explosion.

The emergency aid organization Emergency , which operates a local hospital, reported more than 60 injured people immediately after the attacks. The number of victims increased as the day progressed. For the first time since February 2020 there were losses of the US military in Afghanistan.

victim

At least 79 Afghans (including 28 Taliban members), 13 US soldiers and 3 British nationals were killed in the attack.

At least 200 other people were injured, including 18 members of the US military and other Taliban members. The dead Americans are ten Marines , two Army soldiers and one Navy corpsman . The U.S. fatality was the first U.S. fatality in Afghanistan since February 2020 and the largest single loss of U.S. military personnel since the Boeing Chinook was shot down in Afghanistan in 2011 . If a hospital spokesman counted 72 Afghans dead as a result of the attack, that number was corrected to 79 hours later. The following day, Afghan authorities taken over by the Taliban announced that the number of Afghan citizens killed in the attacks had risen to over 170. Media such as Spiegel , New York Times and ABC News adopted this representation in their reporting.

Reactions

Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned "the vile attack in a very, very tense situation" and canceled her planned visit to Israel for August 28-30. Merkel declared the evacuation operation ended on the same day. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said the attacks had made it clear "that an extension of the operation in Kabul was not possible". The Netherlands and Spain also ended their evacuation missions due to the attacks; Great Britain announced that it would now deal with around a thousand people who were already in British custody at the airport and end the operation in a few hours.

The President of the United States of America , Joe Biden , announced that despite the attacks, the evacuation mission would continue as planned until August 31, 2021. The Department of Defense confirmed this and named a number of over 104,000 civilians, including around 5,000 Americans, who have already been evacuated by the mission. It is assumed that there are just over 1,000 American civilians in Afghanistan. US President Biden announced retribution for the attacks in Kabul with the words "We will hunt you down and make you pay for it". In negotiations between Turkey and the radical Islamic Taliban after the attack, the Taliban suggested securing the airport itself after the evacuation mission was over, while Turkey could ensure operational operations.

Donald Trump expressed his condolences to the killed soldiers and their relatives. Since coming to power in Afghanistan , the former President of the United States had sent out statements almost every day accusing Joe Biden. At this point, however, he waived allegations.

armed forces

The Bundeswehr carried out its last evacuation flights on the day of the two attacks. The last German aircraft was preparing to take off at the time of the attack and then carried out an emergency take-off. At the time of the attack, the German Air Force also had a Medevac aircraft in Afghan airspace in order to be prepared for possible incidents during the withdrawal of the last German troops. After the explosions, the Medevac landed again at Kabul airport.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): "Terror threats have intensified massively" | DW | August 26, 2021. Accessed August 26, 2021 (German).
  2. ↑ Warnings about the threat of terrorism at Kabul Airport. In: tagesschau.de. Retrieved August 26, 2021 .
  3. ↑ Afghanistan: USA, Great Britain and Australia warn of a terrorist attack at Kabul airport. In: Der Spiegel. Retrieved August 26, 2021 .
  4. ↑ Frustrated Taliban and fighters from neighboring countries - This is the IS offshoot in Afghanistan. In: Welt.de. August 27, 2021, accessed August 27, 2021 .
  5. ↑ Afghanistan: Pentagon blames IS terrorist militia for attacks in Kabul. In: Der Spiegel. Retrieved August 26, 2021 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Afghanistan News on Friday: Russia announces maneuvers on the Afghan border. In: Der Spiegel. Retrieved August 27, 2021 .
  7. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Many dead in bomb attacks at Kabul airport | DW | August 26, 2021. Accessed August 27, 2021 (German).
  8. ↑ By Rob Picheta, Meg Wagner, Melissa Mahtani, Melissa Macaya, Veronica Rocha, Fernando Alfonso: Pentagon confirms second explosion near Kabul airport and "a number of US and civilian casualties". August 26, 2021, accessed August 27, 2021 .
  9. ^ Pentagon confirms only one explosion outside Kabul airport, after initially reporting two . In: cnn.com . August 27, 2021, accessed August 27, 2021.
  10. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Afghanistan: Explosion at Kabul Airport. Retrieved August 26, 2021 .
  11. ↑ a b Lucy Campbell (now); Robyn Vinter, Helen Sullivan (earlier), Jason Burke, Amelia Gentleman, Lisa O'Carroll: Afghanistan live news: children reportedly among those killed after two explosions outside Kabul airport . In: The Guardian . August 26, 2021, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed August 26, 2021]).
  12. ↑ Afghanistan: US wants to hunt down Kabul airport attack jihadists, says Biden . In: BBC News . August 27, 2021 ( bbc.com [accessed August 27, 2021]).
  13. ↑ Explosion in front of Kabul Airport . In: BBC , August 25, 2021. 
  14. ↑ 13 US soldiers killed in explosion at Kabul airport, according to the authorities: LIVE UPDATES . In: Fox News . August 26, 2021. Accessed August 26, 2021.
  15. ↑ Kabul Airport Attack Kills 13 US Service Members, at Least 90 Afghans (de) . In: The Wall Street Journal , August 26, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021. 
  16. ↑ Ivana Kottasová, Barbara Starr, Kylie Atwood, Nick Paton Walsh, Sam Kiley, Zachary Cohen, Amy Woodyatt, Jennifer Hansler and Nectar Gan: Evacuation from Afghanistan in the final phase after the fatal attack on Kabul airport . In: cnn. com . August 27, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  17. ↑ US braces for more ISIS attacks after carnage at Kabul airport (de) . 27 August 2021. 
  18. ↑ "Absolutely vile attack". Tagesspiegel , August 26, 2021, accessed on August 26, 2021 .
  19. ↑ Merkel cancels visit to Israel. n-tv , August 26, 2021, accessed on August 26, 2021 .
  20. ^ Bundeswehr mission in Kabul ended. In: tagesschau.de. August 26, 2021, accessed August 26, 2021 .
  21. ↑ Kabul Airport: Great Britain and Spain are also stopping evacuation flights. In: deutschlandfunk.de. August 27, 2021, accessed August 27, 2021 .
  22. ↑ VRM GmbH & Co KG: Afghanistan crisis: USA continue evacuation after attack. August 16, 2021, accessed August 27, 2021 .
  23. ^ Tragic Deaths of US Service Members in Afghanistan Won. Retrieved August 27, 2021 (American English).
  24. ↑ Afghanistan - US President Biden announces retaliation after attacks. Retrieved on August 27, 2021 (German).
  25. ↑ n-tv NEWS: +++ 12:13 Careless handling of data: Brits put local workers in danger +++. Retrieved August 27, 2021 .
  26. ↑ Flags in the USA set at half-mast after the attack. Retrieved August 27, 2021 .