• Friday, March 29, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

We will hunt you down: Biden after Kabul attacks

US president Joe Biden (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

US PRESIDENT Joe Biden on Thursday (26) vowed to avenge the deaths of 13 American service members in the suicide bombing attacks outside the airport in Kabul in Afghanistan the same day.

Speaking emotionally at the White House, the 78-year-old Democratic leader seemingly addressed extremists affiliated to the Islamic State (IS) who are responsible for the attack to say that the US will neither forget nor forgive the act. The IS has claimed responsibility for the attacks and also released a picture of a suicide bomber that struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport.

ALSO READ: Taliban advances were inevitable: Afghanistan expert

“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,” he declared.

We will hunt you down: Biden after Kabul attacks
Medical and hospital staff bring an injured man on a stretcher for treatment after two blast outside the airport in Kabul on August 26, 2021. (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)

At least 103 people were killed and over 140 were injured in explosions that rocked Kabul on Thursday. Multiple explosions were also reported from outside the crowded Kabul airport in the evening.

Thirteen US service members were also among the deceased while 18 were injured.

CIA chief secretly met Taliban leader in Kabul: report

The US Marine Corps said 10 Marines were also among those who were killed.

The devastating attacks came when a number of countries, including the US, were desperately evacuating people out of the Afghan Kabul following the Taliban’s return to power on August 15. The evacuation process has also been quickened since the US’s August 31 deadline of withdrawing the troops is nearing.

Still, 1,000 Americans and many more Afghans have remained in Kabul, waiting to be brought out, according to the Associated Press.

Biden, who has faced a backlash over the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, asked for a moment of silence in honour of the fallen service members during his address on Thursday and ordered American flags to be flown half-mast across the nation.

“We have some reason to believe we know who they are… not certain,” Biden said while referring to the bombers and gunmen involved in the attack. He added that military commanders have been instructed to develop plans to strike IS “assets, leadership, and facilities”.

Related Stories

Loading