ISIS-K, the group behind the Kabul airport attack, sees both Taliban and the U.S. as enemies

For months, terrorism analysts warned that Islamic State-linked militants in Afghanistan would try to turn the Biden administration’s exit into a bloody spectacle.

On Thursday in Kabul, those predictions were realized.

ISIS-Khorasan, the Islamic State’s Afghanistan and Pakistan arm, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the suicide bombing attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghans in an attack outside the airport. The series of blasts ripped through crowds of civilians who were clamoring for a chance to flee before the U.S. withdrawal deadline on Tuesday.

U.S. on alert for further Kabul attacks in race to complete evacuations

U.S. forces helping evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Taliban rule were on alert for more attacks on Friday after an Islamic State suicide bombing outside Kabul airport killed at least 92 people, including 13 U.S. service members.

The White House said the next few days of an ongoing U.S. evacuation operation that the Pentagon said has taken about 111,000 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks are likely to be the most dangerous.

US troop death toll now at 13, with 18 wounded, in HKIA attack: CENTCOM

The number of U.S. service members killed in a series of attacks outside of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday is now 13, with another 18 wounded, according to a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.

The casualty toll increased after the head of CENTCOM held a Pentagon briefing Thursday afternoon, said Navy Capt. Bill Urban. During that event, CENTCOM commander Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie reported that there were 12 troops killed and 15 troops wounded. Urban did not specify the service branch of the latest fatality in his statement.

Russian army patrol rebel enclave in Syria to avert offensive, sources say

Russian forces moved into an opposition enclave in the Syrian city of Deraa on Tuesday to try to avert an army assault on a stronghold that has defied state authority since it was retaken three years ago, witnesses, residents, and army sources said.

Their entry brought a halt to shelling by pro-Iranian army units who have encircled the enclave, where protests first erupted in 2011, and had attempted to storm the area on Monday in the latest drive to force former rebels to surrender.

Libye : Seif el-Islam Kadhafi, au nom du père

Le fils de l’ancien « Guide » de la Jamahiriya a donné une interview au « New York Times ». Il y fait part sans détour de ses ambitions politiques dans la perspective de la présidentielle prévue en décembre.

Urban Warfare: What’s Next for the American Military?

The U.S. military has been fighting the Global War on Terror (GWOT) for more than two decades now. This means that for the first time in American history a servicemember can have both enlisted and retired during an active war. Further, at no time in its history has the U.S. sustained urban combat for this length of time.

CIA Director Reportedly Met With Taliban Leadership – What Does This Mean?

Yesterday morning, a report emerged from The Washington Post that CIA Director William Burns met with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul. This meeting reportedly happened on Monday, August 23. The Post article lists the source for this information as “U.S officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.”

Yes, I would think this definitely qualifies as “sensitive” in nature. Everything about this situation in Afghanistan is sensitive. And a bit insane.

Taliban retakes power, but it faces mounting challenges ahead

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan last week, 20 years after it was removed from power in a US-led military invasion.

Winning that war might just turn out to be the easy part, as maintaining peace and governing the conflict-wracked and impoverished country will be a tough nut to crack, analysts and Afghan officials say.