The US launched a drone strike to protect the Kabul evacuation effort on Sunday, as the Biden administration and its European allies promised to help people leave Afghanistan after Tuesday’s deadline for withdrawal.
The US military said it had carried out a “self-defence” air strike on a vehicle in the Afghan capital, which posed an “imminent Isis-K threat” to the international airport. Isis-K, the local branch of the Islamist terror group, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on Thursday that killed more than 100 Afghans and 13 US troops.
“We are confident we successfully hit the target. Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material,” said Captain Bill Urban, a US Central Command spokesman.