US, NEW YORK (ORDO NEWS) — The United States believes terrorists will continue to attack the Afghan capital. This was announced at a briefing on Thursday by the head of the US Central Command, General Kenneth Mackenzie.
“We believe that they [the terrorists] want to continue these attacks, and we expect these attacks to continue,” he said.
The United States will provide a military response when it identifies who was responsible for the attack in Kabul, Mackenzie added.
“We are now very actively working to determine who did this, <…> and we are ready to take action against them,” he said. “We have made it very clear all this time that we will retain the right to act against IS (the Islamic State terrorist group) in Afghanistan,” Mackenzie also added.
At the same time, the US authorities intend to continue the mission to evacuate compatriots, citizens of other countries and Afghan refugees from Afghanistan, despite the terrorist attack.
“Let me be clear. While we are saddened by the loss of life, both Americans and Afghans, we continue to carry out the mission. Our mission is to evacuate US citizens, third-country nationals, special immigrant visa holders, US Embassy staff and endangered Afghans. Despite the attack, we continue the mission, “Mackenzie said.
At least 1,000 American citizens awaiting evacuation remain in Afghanistan, he added.
“Our main task remains the evacuation of Americans, citizens of other countries, holders of special immigration visas, US Embassy staff and Afghans,” he said. “As the US Secretary of State said yesterday, we believe there are about a thousand, probably not more than a thousand, American citizens remaining [in Afghanistan] awaiting evacuation,” Mackenzie said.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that, according to Washington’s estimates, about 1,500 Americans could remain in Afghanistan. “According to our estimates, on August 14, when the evacuation operation began, <…> there were about 6,000 American citizens in Afghanistan who wanted to leave. Over the past 10 days, about 4,500 of these Americans were safely evacuated together with their next of kin, “he said.
This is a breaking news, we are working and more details will be published as soon as they are available… please refresh the page or go to IN THE NEWS to see latest updates.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.