US drone strike kills 2 Islamic State members in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — Acting swiftly connected President Joe Biden’s committedness to retaliate for the deadly termination bombing astatine Kabul airport, the U.S. subject said it killed 2 members of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate with a drone onslaught successful the group’s eastbound stronghold.

The onslaught Saturday section clip came amid what the White House called indications that IS planned to onslaught again arsenic the U.S.-led evacuation from Kabul airdrome moved into its last days. Biden has acceptable Tuesday arsenic his deadline for completing the exit.

Biden authorized the drone onslaught and it was ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a defence authoritative said, speaking connected information of anonymity to supply details not yet publically announced. It was not instantly wide whether the targeted IS members were straight progressive successful Thursday’s airdrome attack. The U.S. subject initially said 1 idiosyncratic was killed.

“It was a azygous ngo to get these targets and arsenic the assessments and accusation flowed implicit time, we were capable to admit that different was killed arsenic good and 1 wounded,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said astatine a Defense Department briefing Saturday.

“They were ISIS-K planners and facilitators and that’s capable crushed determination alone. I won’t talk to the details of these individuals and what their circumstantial roles mightiness be,” Kirby said. He added: “We person the quality and the means to transportation implicit the skyline counterterrorism capabilities and we’re going to support ourselves.”

He declined to place those killed but said the United States knew who they were.

The airstrike was launched from beyond Afghanistan little than 48 hours aft the devastating Kabul onslaught that killed 13 Americans and 169 Afghans with conscionable days near successful a last U.S. withdrawal aft 20 years of war. U.S. Central Command said it believed its onslaught killed nary civilians.

The Pentagon connected Saturday released the names of the 13 American work members. They see 11 Marines, 1 Navy sailor who was assigned to a Marine Corps unit, and an Army Special Forces soldier. Their remains were being flown to the United States.

The velocity with which the U.S. subject retaliated reflected its adjacent monitoring of IS and years of acquisition successful targeting extremists successful distant parts of the world. But it besides shows the limits of U.S. powerfulness to destruct extremist threats, which immoderate judge volition person much state of question successful Afghanistan present that the Taliban is successful power.

The airstrike came aft Biden declared Thursday that perpetrators of the onslaught would not beryllium capable to hide. “We volition hunt you down and marque you pay,” helium said. Pentagon leaders told reporters Friday that they were prepared for immoderate retaliatory enactment the president ordered.

The president was warned Friday to expect different lethal onslaught successful the closing days of a frantic U.S.-led evacuation. White House property caput Jen Psaki said Biden’s nationalist information squad offered a grim outlook.

“They advised the president and vice president that different panic onslaught successful Kabul is likely, but that they are taking maximum unit extortion measures astatine the Kabul airport,” Psaki said, echoing what the Pentagon has been saying since the bombing Thursday astatine Kabul airport.

Late Friday, the State Department again urged Americans to enactment distant from airdrome gates, including “the New Ministry of Interior gate.”

Few caller details astir the airdrome onslaught emerged a time later, but the Pentagon corrected its archetypal study that determination had been termination bombings astatine 2 locations. It said determination was conscionable 1 — astatine oregon adjacent the Abbey Gate — followed by gunfire. The archetypal study of a 2nd bombing astatine the adjacent Baron Hotel proved to beryllium false, said Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff; helium attributed the mistake to archetypal confusion.

Based connected a preliminary assessment, U.S. officials judge the termination vest utilized successful the attack, which killed astatine slightest 169 Afghans successful summation to the 13 Americans, carried astir 25 pounds of explosives and was loaded with shrapnel, a U.S. authoritative said Friday. A termination weaponry typically carries 5 to 10 pounds of explosives, said the official, who spoke connected information of anonymity to sermon preliminary assessments of the bombing.

Biden inactive faces the occupation implicit the longer word of containing an array of imaginable extremist threats based successful Afghanistan, which volition beryllium harder with less U.S. quality assets and nary subject beingness successful the nation.

In an Oval Office quality Friday, Biden again expressed his condolences to victims of the attack. The instrumentality location of U.S. subject members’ remains volition supply achy and poignant reminders not conscionable of the devastation astatine the Kabul airdrome but besides of the costly mode the warfare is ending. More than 2,400 U.S. work members died successful the warfare and tens of thousands were injured implicit the past 2 decades.

Biden ordered U.S. flags to half-staff crossed the state successful grant of the 13.

They were the archetypal U.S. work members killed successful Afghanistan since February 2020, the period the Trump medication struck an statement with the Taliban that called for the militant radical to halt attacks connected Americans successful speech for a U.S. statement to region each American troops and contractors by May 2021. Biden announced successful April that helium would person each forces retired by September.

Psaki said the adjacent fewer days of the ngo to evacuate Americans and others, including susceptible Afghans fleeing Taliban rule, “will beryllium the astir unsafe play to date.”

The Pentagon said Saturday greeting that astir 6,800 radical were airlifted from Kabul connected U.S. and conjugation craft successful the past 24 hours, and astir 117,000 radical person been airlifted implicit the past 2 weeks.

Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Darlene Superville and Nomaan Merchant contributed to this report.