UPDATE Breaking - explosions At Kabul airport death toll rises.

 

Washington — The Pentagon confirmed Thursday morning that an explosion occurred outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, where the U.S. military has been working to evacuate scores of American citizens and at-risk Afghans from the country ahead of President Biden's August 31 deadline to complete the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said on Twitter that casualties from the blast are "unclear at this time," and the Defense Department "will provide additional details when we can."

A White House official told CBS News that Mr. Biden has been briefed on the explosion.

As the U.S. rushes to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghans who helped American troops during the 20-year war in Afghanistan, as well as those at risk from the Taliban, out of Kabul, Mr. Biden has warned of growing risk to American and allied forces on the ground with each day that passes.

The U.S. and Britain warned citizens not to go to Kabul's airport because of a terror threat outside the facility's gates. On Wednesday evening, the U.S. Embassy in the capital alerted U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and said those at three different gates "should leave immediately."

Mr. Biden spoke earlier this week of an ongoing threat posed by the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, ISIS Khorasan, or ISIS-K.

As of Thursday morning, the U.S. has evacuated 95,700 people out of Kabul since August 14, the White House said. Roughly 13,400 were flown out of the country on U.S. military and coalition flights during a 24-hour span beginning early Wednesday morning.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that 4,500 U.S. citizens and their immediate families have been shuttled out of Afghanistan in the last 10 days, and the State Department believes as many as 1,500 Americans are still in the country.

This is a developing situation, check back later for more details.

UPDATE WSJ: 

A bombing targeting the convoy of Afghanistan’s first vice president killed at least 10 people in the country’s capital, an indication of the high stakes in the U.S.-backed talks between Kabul and the Taliban to end nearly two decades of fighting.

A bomb placed in a wheelbarrow detonated near Amrullah Saleh’s convoy in Kabul early Wednesday, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said. Mr. Saleh suffered minor injuries in an attack that also wounded more than 15 people, including several of his bodyguards, according to the ministry.

Hours after the bombing, Mr. Saleh appeared in a video message from his office with a bandage on his left hand.

“Our fight continues and I am in the service of people of Afghanistan,” he said.

No one claimed responsibility for the bombing. The Taliban quickly denied any involvement, but the Interior Ministry said the explosives were similar to ones used in previous attacks by the Haqqani wing of the insurgent group.

UPDATE: ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Kabul bombings,

@charliecbs

 reports He says the many checkpoint that were in Kabul airport under the Afghan government's control have been eliminated, opening the door for chaos: "You can't depend on the Taliban to provide security"

WSJ: CIA, U.S. Troops Conduct Missions Outside Kabul Airport to Extract Americans, Afghan Allies

 

WASHINGTON—The Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. military are conducting extraction operations to evacuate Americans using helicopters and ground troops as the window begins to close for rescuing all people at risk in Afghanistan.

The CIA has launched clandestine operations to rescue Americans in and outside Kabul in recent days, according to U.S. and other officials. The missions are using American military helicopters but under the control of the CIA, a typical arrangement in such operations.

A congressional source knowledgeable about the evacuation effort said U.S. troops had gone into Kabul on joint missions with other foreign allies, including Britain and France, to designated locations where they had picked up citizens from all those nations, U.S. green-card holders, and Afghans who hold special visas for helping the U.S. military.

The air and ground operations are considered perilous under the current circumstances in the country as the U.S. has begun to assign priority on evacuating Americans over Afghans who are at risk. Those include the many thousands of Afghan interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government but remain inside the country and face retribution from the Taliban.

The Pentagon has said it is coordinating with the Taliban on airport security, but it’s unclear if those discussions also included extraction missions.

READ MORE AT THR WALL STREET JOURNAL 

UPDATED - LIVE VIDEO - Washington D.C. on lockdown - possible truck bomb threat.

WASHINGTON - Capitol police say they're conducting an active bomb threat and evacuating nearby buildings on Capitol Hill after a suspicious vehicle was identified near the Library of Congress.

The Associated Press says a possible explosive may have been located in the "suspicious vehicle."

Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that investigators on the scene were working to determine whether the device was an operable explosive and whether the man in the truck was holding a detonator.

The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The following streets in the area have been closed:

- Independence Ave between 3rd St. SW to 2nd St SE

- Constitution Ave between 3rd St. NW and 2nd St. NE

- East Capitol NE between 1st St NE and 2nd St SE

Capitol police are asking people to avoid the area.

This is a developing news situation. 

LIVE LOOK VIA WUSA9

UPDATE: 

Several governmental buildings in Washington, D.C., were evacuated Thursday morning due to what Capitol Police call "an active bomb threat investigation" after a man drove a pickup truck onto a sidewalk.

Law enforcement negotiators are working to make contact with the person in the vehicle, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Negotiation is still ongoing to have a "peaceful resolution" and the suspect's motives were unknown, Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said in a press conference around noon local time.

The suspect told responding officers he had a bomb, and responding officers said he had what appeared to be a detonator in his hand, Manger said.

Authorities are also investigating a video posted to Facebook that purports to have been posted by the man in the vehicle.

The Cannon House Office Building, a congressional office building, was evacuated via underground routes. The Library of Congress and Supreme Court building were also evacuated. Both the Supreme Court and Congress are on recess.

Messages have been sent to congressional staffers asking that they "remain calm and relocate to Longworth House Office Building using the underground tunnels."

Senate staff were asked in a message to "remain clear of the police activity" and to "please move indoors" if they were outside on Capitol grounds.

The FBI said it's responding. The White House is monitoring the situation and is receiving updates from law enforcement, according to an administration official.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

WASHINGTON — UPDATE, 2:21 p.m.: A law enforcement source tells ABC News the Capitol bomb threat suspect has surrendered and is in police custody.

Afghanistan evacuation continues but US government can't guarantee a safe trip to the airport.

WASHINGTON (SBG) — The U.S. embassy in Kabul issued a warning Wednesday that it cannot guarantee safe passage to the airport, the only way to leave Afghanistan.

The security situation in Kabul continues to change quickly, including at the airport," the notice says.
The warning comes as the U.S. military continues to accelerate what has been a chaotic evacuation process after the Taliban swiftly took over the country.

It also comes after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the Taliban have agreed to allow “safe passage” from Afghanistan for civilians to get to the airport. There have been multiple reports of civilians being pushed back or turned away trying to get there over the last several days.

Asked about the warning at a briefing Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said she was not aware of any incidents where Americans were harassed or attacked going to the airport. She did concede there might be reports she wasn't aware of.

"The Taliban made a commitment to safe passage for American citizens," she said. "So far, it appears Americans have been able to get to the airport."

Meet the new Taliban - same as the old Taliban

Taliban fighters reportedly fired into a crowd and beat protesters in cities throughout Afghanistan on Wednesday, just days after the insurgent group took control of the country.

Al Jazeera reported that at least two people were killed and 12 others injured after shots were fired during a protest in Jalalabad.

Dozens of Afghans gathered in the city to raise the national flag before the country’s Independence Day, according to The Associated Press.

As Afghans tried to lower the Taliban flag, which was raised after the insurgent group took over the region, fighters started firing shots in the air and attacking the Afghans with batons in an effort to disperse the crowd, the AP reported, citing video footage.

A television cameraman who tried to document the violence was also reportedly beaten by the insurgent group's fighters.

Fighters with the insurgent group have been patrolling the streets in Kabul, at times coming into contact with hundreds of Afghan protesters, The New York Times noted.

Despite the risks involved with demonstrating, protesters have been whistling, shouting and waving large Afghan flags in the streets, prompting Taliban forces to try to dissolve the crowds by firing shots into the air, according to the Times, which cited video aired by local news media outlets.

When those tactics did not work, however, the fighters reportedly resorted to force.


That violence was also seen at checkpoints in Kabul and near the local airport as the U.S. and other countries were operating evacuation flights from the region, according to The Washington Post.

The Post reported that some Afghans who sought to leave the country on evacuation flights were unable to do so because they came into contact with the Taliban at checkpoints.

The insurgent group's fighters reportedly beat a number of Afghans who tried to cross and intimidated others against fleeing the country, according to the newspaper, which cited other outlets' reports and an eyewitness account.

In another instance, a former interpreter who worked for the Australian army was reportedly shot in the leg by a Taliban fighter, according to SBS News.

The news of violence between the Taliban and Afghans comes just days after the insurgent group seized Kabul and entered the presidential palace in a relatively peaceful manner, effectively toppling the Afghan government and taking control of the country.

There were not many reports of clashes between the Taliban and Afghan security forces as the insurgent group seized control on Sunday.

“We don’t want Afghanistan to be a battlefield anymore,” Zabihullah Mujahid, the longtime top spokesperson for the Taliban, said during a news conference on Tuesday, according to the Times.

“From today onward, war is over,” he added.

The current developments in the region, however, are putting those statements to the test.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday that the Taliban “informed” the U.S. that they “are prepared to provide the safe passage of civilians to the airport, and we intend to hold them to that commitment.”

He later said the U.S. has been “working, engaging, coordinating with Taliban elements on the ground to ensure safe passage.