At least 12 U.S. military personnel and 60 Afghans were killed as explosions rocked the Kabul airport on Thursday.
The bombings resulted in the first U.S. military combat fatalities in Afghanistan since February 2020, when the Trump administration and the Taliban signed an agreement on withdrawing American troops.
The Pentagon said another 15 U.S. military personnel were injured after the bombing in an assault by gunmen from Islamic State’s regional affiliate.
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, said that "despite the attack we are continuing with our mission."
"The threat from ISIS is extremely real...We believe it is their desire to continue those attacks, and we expect those attacks to continue, and we're doing everything we can to prepare for those attacks. That includes reaching out to the Taliban," McKenzie said.
Former President Donald Trump issued a statement Thursday offering condolences to the families of U.S. service members who died in an explosion and Kabul's airport.
"Melania and I send our deepest condolences to the families of our brilliant Service Members whose duty to the U.S.A. meant so much to them," Trump said. "Our thoughts are also with the families of the innocent civilians who died today in the savage Kabul attack."
"This tragedy should have never been allowed to happen, which makes our grief even deeper and more difficult to understand," Trump continued. "May God bless the U.S.A."
An explosion at the Abbey Gate of the Kabul airport was the result of a complex attack, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said. He said another blast occurred near the Baron hotel adjacent to the airport. A British security official said both attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.
Video from the bombing sites showed multiple bodies, and bloodied, maimed survivors being transported away in wheelbarrows, the Wall Street Journal reported.
An Afghan man who was attempting for the fifth time to get into the airport and get on one of the evacuation planes was standing in the crowd outside Abbey Gate when the detonation took place. “A lot of people got hurt,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “I helped a little girl. I think she died.”
Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn called for Biden, Kamala Harris and several national security officials to resign.
"Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin and General Milley should all resign or face impeachment and removal from office," she said.
"If President Trump can be impeached over a phone call, then the time has come to IMPEACH Biden for gross negligence in Afghanistan," tweeted Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson. "Americans deserve better. We deserve better than someone who willfully IGNORES the WORST crisis in decades."
New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik said Biden was unfit to be commander-in-chief. "Joe Biden has blood on his hands. The buck stops with the President of the United States," she said.
New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney said "Joe Biden must resign or face impeachment."
Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds tweeted: "[Biden] has abdicated his responsibility and duties entrusted to him as POTUS, and he must RESIGN IMMEDIATELY."
Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations, called for Biden's resignation but worried about Harris in charge.
"Should Biden step down or be removed for his handling of Afghanistan? Yes," Haley tweeted. "But that would leave us with Kamala Harris which would be ten times worse. God help us."
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