US Embassy in Kabul Issues Threat Alert

WASHINGTON - A few hours after U.S. President Joe Biden said another attack on the Kabul airport is likely within the next 24 to 36 hours, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, citing a specific and credible threat, urged U.S. citizens to leave the vicinity of the airport.

The security alert urged Americans to avoid the airport, and said those in the vicinity of the airport, including the South (Airport Circle) gate, the new Ministry of the Interior, and the gate near the Panjshir Petrol station on the northwest side of the airport, should leave immediately. Biden warned of more likely attacks in a statement Saturday, as the U.S. and its allies wind down an evacuation of their citizens and Afghans fleeing the Taliban and just two days after a suicide bombing on the perimeter of Kabul’s airport, in which at least 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were killed. Biden said he directed U.S. commanders to protect American troops on the ground at the Hamid Karzai International Airport as the massive airlift comes to an end and U.S. troops withdraw.