After officials said the terror group ISIS-K carried out what the Pentagon called a “complex attack” outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday and the terrorist group assumed the responsibility for the attack, as President Biden promised America responded with a first action Friday. The U.S. has conducted an “over the horizon counterterrorism operation” against an ISIS-K planner with an unmanned strike in Afghanistan. “The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangahar Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties.” The statement did not identify the target of the attack, or what role a “planner” has in the group.
ISIS-K first emerged in Pakistan around the same time, in 2015. Its members have come from other Pakistani militant groups, including disillusioned Taliban fighters. Earlier Friday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby and Army Major General William Taylor, joint staff deputy director for regional operations, cautioned that the U.S. expects more attack attempts. This is why the U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued an alert asking people to stay away from the Kabul airport due to “security threats,” adding that those at four of the airport’s gates should “leave immediately.”
