The United States has begun withdrawing its troops from Kabul Airport
The United States has begun evacuating its troops from Kabul Airport.
The U.S. has flown a total of 113,500 people from Afghanistan during the evacuation operation on Aug. 14, the Department of Defense said. The last days of the mission are overshadowed by the threat of a new terrorist attack.
The United States has begun evacuating its troops from Kabul Airport. The country's Department of Defense confirmed on Saturday that the final phase of a busy and chaotic evacuation operation has already started, and the United States will send home its troops managing the field.
According to a source in the AP news agency, there were only about 4,000 American soldiers on the ground on Saturday, up from a maximum of about 5,800.
The bodies of 13 American soldiers who died in Thursday's terrorist attack are also on their way to the United States.
According to the Department of Defense, the oldest of the dead was 31 years old; among the dead are also soldiers born in 2001, when the U.S. war in Afghanistan began.
In addition to American soldiers, more than 160 Afghans died in the terrorist attack. The Afghan branch of Isis, the extremist organization Isis-K, is believed to be behind the attack.
The United States said on Saturday that it had killed two Isis-K designers in Friday's drone strike. However, according to Defense Ministry spokesman John Kirby, a new terrorist attack is still a threat at Kabul airport.
"They lost some of their ability to plan and carry out attacks, but don't get me wrong, no one says, 'Well, we grabbed them. We don't have to worry about Isis-K anymore,'" Kirby said at a news conference, according to the AP.
The U.S. has flown a total of 113,500 people from Afghanistan during the evacuation operation that began Aug. 14, the Department of Defense said on Saturday. President Joe Biden has insisted that the last American troops leave Afghanistan by the end of August.
Correction 29.8. at 3:44 a.m .: During the evacuation operation that began on August 14, the U.S. has flown 113,500 people from Afghanistan. The previously reported figure of 117,000 applies to the whole of August.
