ISIS terror threat forces US military to establish alternate routes to Kabul airport
By Barbara Starr, Oren Liebermann, Ellie Kaufman and Nicole Gaouette, CNN
The US military is establishing “alternative routes” to Kabul airport because of a threat the terror group ISIS-K poses to the airport and its surroundings, as President Joe Biden met with senior officials Saturday to discuss the security situation in Afghanistan and counter-terrorism operations against the Islamic State offshoot.
“There is a strong possibility ISIS-K is trying to carry off an attack at the airport,” a US defense official told CNN. A senior diplomat in Kabul said they are aware of a credible but not immediate threat by Islamic State against Americans at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Two US defense officials described the military effort to establish “alternative routes” for people to get to Kabul airport and its access gates, with one saying these new routes will be available to Americans, third party nationals and qualified Afghans.
The Taliban are aware of the new effort and are coordinating with the US, one of the officials said.
Possible threats
The Pentagon has been monitoring the situation around the airport, aware that the swelling crowds on the grounds and around the airfield create a target for ISIS-K and other organizations, which may use car bombs or suicide bombers to attack, the second official said. Mortar attacks are another possible threat.
Details of the plan are being closely held, but the broadly sketched-out details call for people to follow new routes and access points in coordination with Taliban on the ground in an attempt to help disperse the gathering of large crowds or avoid the crowds altogether, the two officials said. US personnel would be in a position to observe the movement of people to ensure safety, but the official would not specify if that involves direct observation by nearby troops as well as the use of intelligence sensors.
“There’s a whole canopy of security concerns we have,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said at a press briefing Saturday, as he described the military “fighting against both time and space” in its effort to safely evacuate people.
“The idea is to get as many people out as fast as we can,” Kirby said. “That’s what the focus is. In trying to accomplish that mission, we’re taking in a whole wealth of information about what the security environment looks like.”
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, Kevin Liptak and Betsy Klein contributed to this report
