Live updates Very high threat of terrorist attack as US allies start withdrawal from Kabul

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned Americans late Wednesday to avoid traveling to Kabul airport because of unspecified security threats, and advised citizens at three airport gates to “leave immediately.”

Australia and Britain also issued comparable warnings that Afghanistan was facing “high threat” of a terrorist attack. Although officials did not provide more details, the Biden administration has previously warned that Islamic State poses a threat to the evacuation mission. (The area around the airport remained “incredibly crowded” early Thursday, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified Western diplomat.)

The warnings come as NATO allies, including Poland and Belgium, ended their evacuation flights ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline for American troops to depart. Turkey, which has played a significant role in airport security, also began withdrawing its military.

“The Taliban have made public and private commitments to … permit safe passage for Americans, for third-country nationals and Afghans at risk” past the end of the month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Wednesday.

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There could be as many as 1,500 Americans in Afghanistan still seeking to leave, Blinken said. At least 4,500 U.S. citizens have been evacuated from the country since Aug. 14.

A Taliban spokesman told NBC News that there was “no evidence” that Osama bin Laden carried out the 9/11 attacks, despite plenty of proof to the contrary. The Islamist militants have pledged not to allow Afghanistan to be used as a terrorist base.

The Taliban takeover could drive a coronavirus crisis in Afghanistan as vaccinations plummet, the United Nations warned.

Virginia airport has welcomed thousands of people fleeing Taliban rule, official saysLink copied

More than 8,600 Afghan refugees and Afghan U.S. citizens have landed at Dulles International Airport from Kabul since that city fell to the Taliban this month, a spokesman for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said Wednesday.

Dulles has been the country’s main port of entry for what Biden administration officials call one of the largest airlifts in history, totaling 82,300 evacuees from Afghanistan to countries worldwide since Aug. 14.

After arriving from Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Germany, Spain and Bulgaria â€" where they were temporarily housed at refugee sites after leaving Kabul â€" the Afghan men, women and children landing at Dulles were tested for the coronavirus, said Grant Neely, Northam’s spokesman.

U.N. food agency to scale up humanitarian flights amid questions on future of Kabul airport Link copied

Pakistan has helped repair damaged planes, allowing a “humanitarian air bridge” to be established between Islamabad and Kabul, the executive director of the World Food Program (WFP) said, after he warned recently that millions of Afghans could soon face starvation because of a combination of conflict, drought and the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ll have these [planes] moving passengers, U.N. personnel, World Food Program and other humanitarian workers throughout Afghanistan so that we cannot only maintain our operations in this time of need but also scale up,” David Beasley, the head of WFP, said in a video posted on his official Twitter account on Thursday.

Questions remain, however, on whether Kabul airport will continue to function after the U.S. military withdrawal on Aug. 31. The Taliban has asked Turkey for technical help running the airport, according to Reuters, but the Islamist militant group is at the same time demanding Turkish military forces depart alongside other NATO allies this month. Turkey, which has played a significant role in airport security during the ongoing evacuations, began withdrawing its forces on Wednesday.

Keeping the airport open after foreign forces depart is vital to maintaining aid supplies and operations. Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, relies heavily on foreign assistance. The World Bank estimated that aid flows last year last year made up about 43 percent of an economy battered by decades of conflict.

(James Heappey, a junior British defense minister, told Times Radio Thursday that he was certain the Taliban would reopen the civilian portion of Kabul airport after the Western withdrawal.)

The United States and other aid donors have responded to the Taliban takeover by stopping the flow of aid and freezing Afghanistan’s reserves and other financial accounts.

Key updateTaliban spokesman says ‘no proof’ bin Laden was responsible for 9/11 attacksLink copied

A Taliban spokesman said there was “no proof” that Osama bin Laden was involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.

The remarks by Zabihullah Mujahid come as the Islamist militant group pledged not to allow Afghanistan to be used once again as a terrorist base.

“When Osama bin Laden became an issue for the Americans, he was in Afghanistan. Although there was no proof he was involved" in 9/11, Mujahid told NBC News in an interview aired Wednesday. “Now, we have given promises that Afghan soil won’t be used against anyone.”

When it was last in power, the Taliban provided a safe harbor in Afghanistan for bin Laden, who had fought with the mujahideen against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, while he built up the al-Qaeda terrorist network. After the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers and Pentagon masterminded by bin Laden, President George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban hand him over and dismantle terrorist training camps. When the Taliban refused, the Islamist regime was toppled by the Afghan Northern Alliance and U.S.-led airstrikes.

Military officials have warned that the collapse of the Afghan government could also mean a resurgence of al-Qaeda. Although the group has been substantially weakened since 2001, its fighters remain in Afghanistan. In April, the U.S. intelligence community told Congress that al-Qaeda “will continue to plot attacks and seek to exploit conflicts in different regions.”

The United Nations warned in June that the Islamist militant group was present in 15 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, mostly in the country’s eastern and southern regions. The Taliban and al-Qaeda “remain closely aligned and show no indication of breaking ties,” the U.N. said.

Biden headed for divisive debate over resettlement of Afghanistan refugees Link copied

President Biden, already facing political peril over the chaotic exit from Afghanistan, has in recent days waded into an escalating domestic debate over thousands of refugees slated to be resettled in the United States.

Criticism is intensifying on Fox News, among Republican state lawmakers in Wisconsin where some refugees are being temporarily housed, and from the nativist, anti-immigrant factions in the country that helped Donald Trump ride into the White House.

From some, there is anger that too many Afghans might be left behind. From others â€" particularly among conservative Republicans â€" there is worry that too many might be allowed to come. And at the center is Biden, facing difficult decisions and ramifications that could linger for months if not years.

Australia warns of ‘deteriorating’ conditions in Kabul; New Zealand stops accepting resettlement requestsLink copied

SYDNEY â€" Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia had evacuated 1,200 people from Afghanistan overnight, bringing the total to more than 4,000 in the past week. But he warned that the situation in Kabul was “deteriorating,” as his government told Australians not to head to Kabul airport.

Morrison said 639 evacuees had arrived in Australia, including 221 on Thursday morning. The number evacuated so far is about three times what he had anticipated when the rescue operation began a week ago, Morrison said. Many of the people who fled with Australian help are now in the United Arab Emirates.

The prime minister would not say when Australia would end its operations.

“When the time comes … we can say honestly to them that Australians have done all that we possibly could have done in these circumstances to get as many people out as safely as possible,” Morrison told reporters.

Morrison’s remarks came as New Zealand announced it was no longer accepting resettlement applications from Afghans because of the “rapidly deteriorating situation” and “diminishing window for evacuations.”

“We cannot guarantee that we will be able to assist all those we are seeking to evacuate,” the Foreign Ministry in Wellington said in a statement, adding that its “focus remains on getting as many people out of Kabul as possible via the current available route for the short amount of time possible.”

On Thursday, Australia joined the United States and Britain in advising people not to go to Kabul airport.

“If you are in the area of the airport, move to a safe location and await further advice,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said. “Afghanistan remains highly volatile and dangerous. Be aware of the potential for violence and security threats with large crowds. There is an ongoing and very high threat of a terrorist attack.”

She did not provide details on the threat.

“We do understand that this is an extremely distressing situation,” she said. “We remain focused on the safe evacuation from Afghanistan for as many Australians and visa holders as possible, for as long as possible.”

U.S. leaders move to shut down further freelance trips to KabulLink copied

Leaders in the Biden administration and on Capitol Hill took steps Wednesday to discourage members of Congress from taking further unauthorized trips to Kabul, delivering sharp rebukes to a pair of lawmakers who made such a journey this week and warning others not to follow.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin privately made it “clear” he would approve no “VIP visits” to the Kabul airport, the epicenter of a massive evacuation effort, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal communications.

The moves came in response to Tuesday’s visit to the evacuation by Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), a pair of Iraq War veterans who have pressed President Biden to move faster to help vulnerable Afghans.

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