The U.S. State Department is reportedly telling congressional staff to stop directing people to the airport in Kabul.
Fox News reported that the State Department has sent out an “urgent message, begging them to cease directing people to the airport in Kabul to evacuate.” The outlet noted that Capitol Hill staff were still sending people in Afghanistan to Kabul as of this morning when multiple explosions rocked the area around the airport.
“All staff engaging in this type of uncoordinated messaging to people on the ground must cease due to the security situation,” the State Department wrote in part.
The warning went out as multiple suicide attacks occurred near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday, resulting in an unconfirmed number of injuries and deaths.
As The Daily Wire reported:
The Pentagon confirmed one explosion just outside the airport’s Abbey gate Thursday morning. Fox News correspondent Jen Griffin reported another explosion immediately after at Kabul’s Baron Hotel, which has been a gathering place for Americans waiting to be evacuated from the country.
“We can confirm an explosion outside Kabul airport. Casualties are unclear at this time. We will provide additional details when we can,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby posted on Twitter.
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The attacks come as U.S. forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan and end a weeks-long rush to evacuate Americans and Afghan visa holders. The total number of injuries remain unclear, however a preliminary report indicates that at least 13 people are dead and numerous injured from the bombings.
Earlier on Thursday, multiple countries suspended evacuation operations over terror threats reported near the airport. Thousands of Afghans and westerners have gathered outside the perimeter of the airport over the weeks since the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, toppling the Afghan government and forcing the president to flee the country. Desperate Afghans have crowded around the airport attempting to catch a flight out of the country over fear of the coming Taliban rule.
“The sooner we can finish, the better,” Biden said Tuesday during a White House address. “Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that [Islamic State-affiliate] ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport, attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians.”
“Thus far, the Taliban have been taking steps to work with us so we can get our people out,” he added. “But it’s a tenuous situation. We’ve already had some gun fighting break out. We run a serious risk of it breaking down, as time goes on.”
Members of ISIS are reportedly in the area of the airport, and the attacks near the Kabul airport come just hours after the State Department warned of potential terrorist attacks, telling Americans outside the gates of the airport to “leave immediately,” Fox News reported. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also warned on Wednesday of a “very real possibility” of an attack.