{"id":33773,"date":"2021-08-21T16:59:26","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T16:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/21\/islamic-state-threat-forces-us-changes-to-evacuations-at-kabul-airport\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:53:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:53:31","slug":"islamic-state-threat-forces-us-changes-to-evacuations-at-kabul-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/08\/21\/islamic-state-threat-forces-us-changes-to-evacuations-at-kabul-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Islamic State threat forces US changes to evacuations at Kabul airport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) \u2014 Potential Islamic State threats<\/a> against Americans in Afghanistan are forcing the U.S. military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the airport in Kabul<\/a>, a senior U.S. official said Saturday, adding a new complication to the already chaotic efforts to get people out of the country after its swift fall to the Taliban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official said that small groups of Americans and possibly other civilians will be given specific instructions on what to do, including movement to transit points where they can be gathered up by the military. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changes come as the U.S. Embassy issued a new security warning Saturday telling citizens not to travel to the Kabul airport without individual instruction from a U.S. government representative. Officials declined to provide more specifics about the IS threat but described it as significant, and said there have been no confirmed attacks as yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, Joint Staff deputy director for regional operations, told Pentagon reporters on Saturday that of the 17,000 people evacuated since Aug. 15, just 2,500 have been Americans. U.S. officials have estimated there are as many as 15,000 Americans in Afghanistan, but acknowledge they don\u2019t have solid numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time is running out ahead of Biden\u2019s Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw most remaining U.S. troops, and the president on Friday night did not commit to extending it. He faces growing criticism as videos depict pandemonium and occasional violence outside the airport, and as vulnerable Afghans who fear the Taliban\u2019s retaliation send desperate pleas not to be left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crowds remain outside the Kabul airport\u2019s concrete barriers, clutching documents and sometimes stunned-looking children, blocked from flight by coils of razor wire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tens of thousands of translators and other Afghan wartime helpers, along with their close family members, are seeking evacuation after the Taliban\u2019s shockingly swift takeover of Afghanistan<\/a> in a little over a week\u2019s time. The fall of Kabul marked the final chapter of America\u2019s longest war, which began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A US soldier shoots in the air with his pistol while standing guard behind barbed wire as Afghans sit on a roadside near the military part of the airport in Kabul on August 20, 2021, hoping to flee from the country after the Taliban’s military takeover of Afghanistan. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who negotiated the religious movement\u2019s 2020 peace deal with the U.S., was in Kabul for meetings with the group\u2019s leadership, a Taliban official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the news media. Baradar\u2019s presence is significant because he has often held talks with former Afghan leaders such as ex-President Hamid Karzai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afghan officials familiar with talks held in the capital say the Taliban have said they will not make announcements on their government until the Aug. 31 deadline for the troop withdrawal passes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abdullah Abdullah, a senior official in the ousted government, tweeted that he and Karzai met Saturday with Taliban\u2019s acting governor for Kabul, who \u201cassured us that he would do everything possible for the security of the people\u201d of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evacuations continued, though some outgoing flights were far from full because of the airport chaos, Taliban checkpoints and bureaucratic challenges. A German flight on Friday night carried 172 evacuees, but two subsequent flights carried out just seven and eight people, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\t