Live Updates
Our live coverage of the situation in Afghanistan has moved here.
As many as five rockets were fired at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Monday local time, a US official told CNN.
The C-RAM defense system – designed to protect ground forces against rockets, artillery and mortars – installed at the airport engaged with the rockets, the official said.
There are no reports of any casualties at this time, the official said.
Residents of Kabul and local media said a blast was heard in the early morning hours, local time, in the Afghan capital.
There was no clear indication of what kind of explosion it was or any official confirmation of the source of the blast.
In a statement on Sunday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the service members killed in Afghanistan “made the ultimate sacrifice so that others could live.”
“My heart and my thoughts are with their families, especially today. They, too, have made the ultimate sacrifice,” Austin said.
The remains of 13 American service members killed in the Kabul airport bomb attack arrived Sunday morning to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
President Biden was in attendance, along with Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and others.
The US military acknowledged Sunday night that there are reports of civilian casualties following a US airstrike against a vehicle in Kabul deemed to be “an imminent ISIS-K threat.”
A spokesperson for US Central Command said “powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties.”
Note: The term “casualties” can refer to wounded or dead.
“We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul today,” Capt. Bill Urban, spokesperson for US Central Command, said in a statement. “We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life.”
US CENTCOM originally said there were no indications of civilian casualties.
CNN reported earlier that multiple members from a family, including children were killed in the US strike in Kabul, a relative of those killed told CNN.
Nine members of one family were killed in a US drone strike targeting a vehicle in a residential neighborhood of Kabul, according to a relative of those killed.
Those killed included six children, the youngest being a 2-year-old girl, the brother of one of the dead told a local journalist working with CNN.
He said the people killed were his brother Zamaray (40 years old), Naseer (30), Zameer (20), Faisal (10), Farzad (9), Armin (4), Benyamin (3), Ayat (2) and Sumaya (2).
The brother cried as he told the journalist that they were “an ordinary family.”
“We are not ISIS or Daesh and this was a family home — where my brothers lived with their families,” he said.
CNN obtained images of the aftermath of the strike. A US official confirmed the location in Kabul’s Khaje Bughra neighborhood. US Central Command said earlier they were assessing the possibilities of civilian casualties.
A man named Ahad, who said he was a neighbor of the family, told CNN: “All the neighbors tried to help and brought water to put out the fire and I saw that there were 5 or 6 people dead. The father of the family and another young boy and there were two children. They were dead. They were in pieces. There were [also] two wounded.”
Ahad told CNN he had witnessed the airstrike at around 5 p.m. local time as he walked towards his home. He said he heard the noise of the rocket and a loud bang, and ducked for cover, before trying to help rescue his neighbors. Ahad told CNN that two other people were wounded in the attack.
The US military said in its statement “significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material,” the spokesperson said.
A local journalist who visited the scene soon after the airstrike told CNN that “whatever material was in the car, I don’t know. The car was in a very bad state, just a skeleton of the car was left.”
The journalist — who is not being named for security reasons — was told by family members of the deceased that there were two cars parked at the home: One was a Corona and the other was a Camry.
The journalist said he’d been told that one of the cars contained one of the fathers and his three children getting ready to go to a family event.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said that “several hundred, several thousand” women and men in need of protection from the Taliban were left in Kabul after French forces pulled out.
In a message to those Afghans left behind, Macron promised, “with our partners and also through negotiations with the Taliban” to allow them to leave Afghanistan.
“Will we be able to do it? I cannot guarantee you that,” he said in an interview with French channel TF1.
The last French evacuation flight left Kabul on Friday, with the final French diplomatic and military forces arriving in France Sunday.
The French President also referenced a joint French, British and German proposal at the United Nations Security Council to establish a “safe zone” at an airport in Kabul to allow evacuations to continue.
Macron said that such a move would pressure the Taliban to live up to their promises.
“If you want to move forward and have a country open to the rest of the region and the world, you must respect humanitarian rules and allow all women and men who want to, to be protected,” he said.
However, the French President said that negotiations with the Taliban did not presuppose a recognition of their government. This recognition, he said, would be conditional on three things: the Taliban’s respect the protection of all those that wish to leave Afghanistan; their distancing themselves from terrorist movements; and their respect for human rights and, “in particular, the dignity of Afghan women.”
The Taliban on Sunday condemned a US drone strike against a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber in Kabul, saying the United States had violated Afghanistan’s sovereignty.
Bilal Kareemi, a Taliban spokesperson, told CNN that it was “not right to conduct operations on others’ soil” and that the US should have informed the Taliban.
“Whenever the US conducts such operations, we condemn them,” Kareemi said.
US Central Command said earlier that said the airstrike on a vehicle in Kabul targeted an “an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamid Karzai International Airport.”
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden attended the dignified transfer of 13 service members killed in Kabul on Thursday.
Out of the 13 who died, the families of 11 service members allowed the media to cover the transfers at Dover Air Force Base on Sunday.
Biden and the first lady were joined by other military and administration officials, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The President also met with families of the deceased behind closed doors during his visit to the base.
The vehicle that was targeted by the US in Sunday’s strike on Kabul was next to a building and contained one suicide bomber, a US official told CNN.
It remains unclear if the vehicle was intended to be a car bomb, or if the suicide bomber was using it for transport.
“It was loaded up and ready to go,” the official told CNN.
A Pentagon official told CNN that based on initial reports, this was an unmanned drone strike on a vehicle containing what they believe were multiple suicide bombers.
Earlier, US CENTCOM said the airstrike on a vehicle in Kabul eliminated “an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamid Karzai International Airport.”
The US State Department, along with governments from numerous other countries across the globe, released a statement Sunday saying they will hold the Taliban to their promises that they will allow people to leave the country after Aug. 31.
“We are all committed to ensuring that our citizens, nationals and residents, employees, Afghans who have worked with us and those who are at risk can continue to travel freely to destinations outside Afghanistan. We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorization from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country,” the statement said in part.
“We will continue issuing travel documentation to designated Afghans, and we have the clear expectation of and commitment from the Taliban that they can travel to our respective countries. We note the public statements of the Taliban confirming this understanding,” the statement continued.
Some context: National security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed this in an appearance on CNN Sunday, saying the administration is committed to a “safe passage” of Americans and Afghans who helped the US government after the withdrawal deadline from Afghanistan
“August 31st is not a cliff. After August 31st, we believe that we have substantial leverage to hold the Taliban to its commitments to allow safe passage for American citizens, legal permanent residents and the Afghan allies who have travel documentation to come to the United States,” Sullivan told CNN. “We will use that leverage to the maximum extent and we will work with the rest of the international community to make sure the Taliban does not falter on these commitments.”
About 250 Americans who are attempting to leave Afghanistan remain in the country, according to new figures from a State Department spokesperson.
Approximately 50 evacuations have taken place in the last day, bringing the total number of American citizens evacuated to 5,500.
“Our team on the ground continues to coordinate assistance around the clock for this group, while taking the current security situation into account,” the State Department spokesperson said in a statement.
Some context: The State Department has been in regular contact with around 280 people who have self-identified as Americans but are either undecided about leaving the country or do not plan to evacuate.
The State Department also continues to reach out to people who have previously self-identified themselves to the US, but have since lost contact with officials.
President Biden and the first lady are currently meeting with the families of the American service members killed in Afghanistan at the Center for Families of the Fallen at Dover Air Force Base, according to the press pool traveling with the President.
The US carried out a defensive airstrike in Kabul Sunday targeting a suspected ISIS-K car bomb that was targeting the airport, according to a US defense official.
The official said a significant secondary explosion indicated a substantial amount of explosive material.
A drone carried out the attack. The initial indication is that there were no civilian casualties, the official said.
On Sunday, US CENTCOM confirmed the strike in Kabul.
“US military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamad Karzai International airport,” said Capt. Bill Urban, CENTCOM spokesperson.
Capt. Urban continued: “We are confident we successfully hit the target. Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material. We are assessing the possibilities of civilian casualties, though we have no indications at this time. We remain vigilant for potential future threats.”
GOP Sen. Mitt Romney said the possibility of Americans and Afghan allies being left behind in Afghanistan would be a “moral stain,” and blamed both the Trump and Biden administrations for the chaotic exit from Afghanistan.
“This is the result of very ineffective decisions, terrible decisions made by the prior administration and by the current administration,” Romney told CNN on Sunday.
Some more context: In an interview on ABC, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there are roughly 300 American citizens still in Afghanistan looking to leave the country.
Romney warned the American withdrawal from Afghanistan increases the likelihood of a Taliban-sponsored attack on Americans, and claimed the likelihood is higher today than when the US first entered Afghanistan 20 years ago
“We went to Afghanistan because we got attacked on 9/11 and lost thousands of American lives. Now, America is in more danger. The decision to pull our military of Afghanistan puts us in greater danger,” Romney said.
Romney said he welcomed the Afghan evacuees arriving in the US, and distanced himself from Republicans who have criticized the relocation of Afghan allies to the US on the basis of restricting immigration.
“I believe in their heart of hearts that they recognize that we have a moral responsibility, and in keeping with our national character, we welcome people into our country who seek asylum, and those particularly who have fought alongside our troops,” Romney said.
When asked about Utah native Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, a Utah native, who was killed in an attack at Kabul airport on Thursday, Romney called him “an American hero” and praised the sacrifices of all 13 service members who died in the attack.
“It’s an extraordinary sacrifice they make and is very much in keeping with our extraordinary national heritage,” Romney said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the US will not have a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan after Aug. 31, telling ABC on Sunday that the administration will remain engaged diplomatically in the region but that re-opening the embassy in Kabul will depend on the Taliban’s behavior “in the weeks and months ahead.”
In the same interview, Blinken said that the administration is still actively working to evacuate about 300 American citizens from Afghanistan who have indicated to the US that they want to leave the country.
When asked about the US drone strike that killed two ISIS operatives on Friday, following an ISIS suicide bombing that killed scores of Afghans and 13 US service members, Blinken said that more details will be released in the coming days about the targets.
“The ISIS targets taken out involved two individuals who are significant planners and facilitators for ISIS,” Blinken said, adding that the administration will release more information about “what they did and what they are responsible for” in the days ahead.
Blinken also reaffirmed President Biden’s comments on Saturday about there being a “very high risk” of another attack against US forces in Kabul.
“There is a high likelihood of additional attacks between now and the 31st,” Blinken said. “This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission.”
When asked why additional force protection measures were not taken sooner, given the steady stream of intelligence all week about a potential ISIS attack, Blinken said that part of the mission inevitably involved “direct contact” between service members and those seeking to enter the airport, as part of the screening process by troops guarding the airfield. He said the administration will be looking at whether anything could have been done better to prevent the terrorist attack that killed scores of Afghans and 13 US service members.
An explosion occurred in a neighborhood in Kabul close to the airport on Sunday afternoon local time, eyewitnesses say. The cause is unknown. It is not clear yet if there are any casualties.
Images and video from the area show dark smoke billowing from a house or compound in a mainly residential area.
Evacuations from Afghanistan continue to decrease as the US drawdown from the country continues ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline for removing all US personnel from Afghanistan.
The White House announced Sunday morning that approximately 2,900 people were evacuated from Kabul from 3 a.m. ET Saturday to 3 a.m. ET Sunday. Those evacuations were carried out by 32 U.S. military flights which carried approximately 2,200 evacuees and nine coalition flights, which carried 700 people.
Approximately 6,800 people were evacuated from Kabul over the same stretch of time from Friday into Saturday.
Some context: Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed Saturday that US troops have begun retrograde withdrawal from the airport in Kabul, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said that the slowing evacuation numbers would coincide with the retrograde process.
“What it will also mean, as they move to this retrograde phase, is that there will be a reduction of numbers over the next couple of days,” Psaki said at Friday’s White House briefing.
President Biden will attend the dignified transfer of those American service members killed in last Thursday’s attack in Afghanistan, the White House announced Sunday.
Biden will take Air Force One to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to attend the dignified transfer.
The President and the first lady will meet with the families of fallen American service members, according to the White House. They will then attend the dignified transfer at 12 p.m.
According to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, “the dignified transfer is not a ceremony; rather, it is a solemn movement of the transfer case by a carry team composed of military personnel from the fallen member’s respective service.”
President Biden outlined the steps surrounding Friday’s strike against ISIS-K, saying, “I said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have.”
Biden also offered praise for those service members killed in this week’s attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport.
“[T]he 13 service members that we lost were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our highest American ideals and while saving the lives of others. Their bravery and selflessness has enabled more than 117,000 people at risk to reach safety thus far,” the statement said.
Biden added: “The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high. … Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours. I directed them to take every possible measure to prioritize force protection, and ensured that they have all the authorities, resources and plans to protect our men and women on the ground.”
Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, deputy director of the Joint Staff For Regional Operations, confirmed that two “high-profile ISIS targets” were killed Friday during a drone strike undertaken in Afghanistan.
“I can confirm, as more information has come in, that two high-profile ISIS targets were killed, and one was wounded. And we know of zero civilian casualties. Without specifying any future plans, I will say that we will continue to have the ability to defend ourselves and to leverage over the horizon capability to conduct counterterrorism operations as needed,” Taylor said during a news briefing Saturday.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said all the targets were hit in a single strike, and that they were “ISIS-K planners and facilitators.”
