According to the US government, up to five rockets were fired at the airport on Monday morning. But they were intercepted by a missile defense system. According to initial reports, there were no victims among the Americans. A UN security zone in Kabul is to be discussed on Monday.
According to Afghan media reports, the rockets were fired from a vehicle. The Pajhwok agency reported that rockets had hit several places in Kabul. The incident underscored how dangerous the high-pressure operation remains even in the last hours before the deadline agreed with the radical Islamic Taliban on Tuesday.
It was only on Sunday that the Americans claimed to have used a drone attack to kill a suicide bomber in a car who was supposed to have prepared an attack on the airport on behalf of the IS militia branch Isis-K.
When the car was destroyed, several powerful explosions then occurred, which suggests that the vehicle was probably loaded with explosives, said the US Central Command. The detonations could have caused more casualties. Reports of affected civilians would be investigated.
Video: ORF correspondent Inka Pieh reports from Washington about the US attack near Kabul airport
A Taliban spokesman criticized the US for failing to inform the group about the drone attack in advance. It is illegal for the US to launch attacks in other countries at will, the spokesman for the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN said. US President Joe Biden, however, reaffirmed that the military commanders should “do everything that is necessary to protect our troops on the ground,” as the White House announced.
The German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, however, denied a newspaper report that only comparatively few local forces were flown out of Afghanistan by the Bundeswehr during the evacuations. The passenger lists for evacuation flights from Kabul are currently being compared with partner countries, Maas said. It will therefore take a while before there is a clear overview.
In addition to evacuating the German Armed Forces, Maas only wants to help those people who have been approved for admission to Germany when they leave Afghanistan. “We are only concerned with this group of people,” emphasized the SPD politician on Monday after talks in the Uzbek capital Tashkent. The Central Asian neighbor of Afghanistan is currently a first port of call for refugees from Afghanistan.
The government in Tashkent had agreed to cooperate with the group of people defined by Germany. As things stand at present, there are more than 40,000 people who should be admitted to Germany – if they manage to leave the country.
Talks about UN security zone
Afghanistan’s neighbors want to coordinate and – if possible – develop a common position. All important actors, including Russia and China, should be there. Russia’s embassy in Kabul agreed on Monday to accept applications from those wishing to leave the country. Additional flights are also planned. Russia evacuated around 360 people last week.
During the day, UN Secretary General António Guterres and the representatives of the permanent members of the Security Council want to talk about a possible UN security zone in Kabul. France and Great Britain want to push this through in the UN Security Council. In a statement published on Sunday by more than 20 countries, it said that the Taliban had given assurances that “all foreign nationals and all Afghan citizens with a travel permit from our countries are allowed to travel safely and orderly to departure points and out of the country”.
According to his ministry, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken phoned his Chinese colleague Wang Yi on Sunday. This made the USA jointly responsible for the “chaotic” situation in Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan did not achieve its goal of eliminating terrorist forces, he said in the phone call with Blinken, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
