Afghanistan | Reports: 15 people injured in the Kabul airport explosion | Latest World English News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGXCbN_zA9Y"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]now for more on this developing story investigative journalists and former raf pilot michael k joins us live from athens michael thank you so much for joining us as we know some shocking news coming in on explosion rather two explosions near the kabul airport what can you tell us yeah so the the reports that the explosions were were large uh there are bodies in the area um the explosions happened outside the main gate which is being referred to as abbey gate and i've been trying to evacuate uh an interpreter and his family out of this area over the last 24 hours and there's a significant amount of people uh in that vicinity in that location uh mostly afghans shoulder to shoulder trying to um trying to actually get to the gate to present documents to uh the u.s who are controlling that gate in order to try and get on uh evacuation flights uh coming out of the country and the window for those evacuation flights uh is is closing rapidly so there has been a big rush of people in at these gates in order to try and get out so so it looks like what's happened is the explosions that we're hearing of i don't think we've people are talking about them being uh islamic state karazhan um explosions i haven't seen islamic state cause karazhan own this yet or claim the explosions um but it does seem ominous uh and it would have been it would have been probably one of the one of the best times to have launched an attack like this given uh the volumes of people trying to get to the gate before the window the evacuation window shut right uh michael as you just mentioned the timing of the uh attack is of great concern as of now it was reported earlier that a grave and specific isis-k terror attack targeting crowds around the airport was in fact hampering the evacuation efforts uh do you see there to be a change in the u.s strategy of withdrawal past the deadline we know that a pentagon briefing has been delayed as of now uh look my personal opinion analysis on this is that there is very little appetite from uh the bind administration um to start re-engaging in security matters especially when it would be you know effectively alongside the taliban i think the big question that has been out there ever since the taliban dethroned the government of afghanistan is to what extent or what capability did the taliban have to be able to counter terrorist threats inside the country the two nominal terrorist organizations being islamic state corazon and al-qaeda so you know that's been a question that's been out there um alongside the question of to what extent can the taliban actually govern afghanistan uh what experience does it have across the political the economic and the security lines of development um you know and those questions are still unanswered so i i don't see there being any appetite from the us from by the administration to to to try to deal with um an islamic state threat uh as far as the americans are concerned they they evacuated the majority of people that they want to evacuate um those that will need evacuating when the window shuts and when the taliban take control of the civilian side and the taliban are in talks at the moment with turkey and civilian contractors from turkey in order to try and um secure that side of the airport um you know that's what that's what the us will be leaving the taliban uh to do and i i do not think um given the current situation given the amount of people that have been evacuated that the u.s will have any appetite to um to continue or or keep troops in tears the longer they need to especially when you know you're starting to see bombs go off outside the main gate right now michael how do you see this development impacting the evacuations that were ongoing we know that the evacuations had already slowed down with some european nations ending their efforts as soon as today now do you see these evacuations continuing beyond august 31st my my sources on the ground are telling me that the um the gates to afghans uh have now have now closed um if you're a us uh passport holder if you're uk passport holder or a western passport holder uh the windows is still open although that's closing rapidly too but for afghans the the word on the ground is certainly that the gates the gates are now shut and even those that have come through the gates um you know they need to be protest and there's still questions about the processing of those people who have actually made it inside the perimeter so um you know the only other options now will be for um afghans who are left behind to try and make it out of the country um you know by car or by the channels that people are talking about to the north and tajikistan but the taliban are going to have road road checkpoints um vehicle checkpoints on on those roads all the way through so any form of evacuation is going to have to uh involve uh acquiescence from the uh from the taliban um and i think you know that's a that's a terrible situation from for some people who have been interpreters that you know maybe don't have beards that are being harassed by the taliban it's an awful situation for them to be in especially when they've got a logistical tale of a wife and you know three four five six children right michael thank you so much for all your inputs and thank you for joining us on beyond let's now go to new york to our correspondent susan tehrani susan as we are given to understand the pentagon briefing has now been delayed what more can you tell us we're hearing from a taliban official that at least 13 people including children many taliban guards were wounded in a blast that took place outside a kabul airport that's the number that we're getting this is according uh to reuters uh that's the number of casualties that we're getting uh it was anticipated that this pentagon briefing would be delayed we'll have to wait and see how long that's going to be yesterday when there wasn't such a development the pentagon briefing was delayed by hours and hours so we'll have to wait and see what u.s officials have to come out and update us with but a a striking development nonetheless right um susan as of now we are given to understand that about three u.s troops have been injured in this attack do you have any more details about the casualties or the injuries on ground the latest that i have right now is the 13 that were killed including children and i i this is what i heard from you about about the us uh troops which which which is going to put the united states in a very very difficult situation right now including the biden administration right do we expect the pentagon to hold a briefing today in a matter of few hours and what do we expect them to say the pentagon will the briefing right now has been postponed for now but we will definitely hear from the pentagon they did have another briefing scheduled for later on in the afternoon what they're expected to say events on the ground are really changing by the minute minute as we are reporting right now and we'll have to see what happens by the time that they really come out and speak but what's very noteworthy right now is first of all the us troops that you mentioned the number of people that were killed and also uh the ability of uh not only u.s forces right now their security and how they manage to secure the perimeters around the kabul airport but uh how the taliban were able to provide security for the people who were outside the airport these are questions that are are going to be raised and and that's going to be the central tenant right now of discussion uh but the humanitarian issue is front and center right now getting these people to safety getting the injured uh to the closest and nearest hospital that's gonna be possibly the focus of attention right susan stay with us we'll now go across to afghanistan to kabul where our correspondent anus malik has been reporting live with all the recent details now ana's what can you tell us about the casualties on ground what is the situation in kabul as of now at least 13 people have been injured at least 1 3 13 people have been killed rather and multiple casualties with a second explosion taking place very near to the barren hotel baron hotel uh houses a lot of foreign diplomats foreign media personnel from the u.n as well those who are seeking evacuation uh the siren hotel as the balance hotels the backside the package is exactly where i was just a moment ago we were airing that report i was just yeah four minutes ago and uh uh in case in case if it got too big the explosion has indeed taken place among the crowds and that is that would be catastrophic uh the explosion sources on ground though tell me that the explosion has taken place very near to the barren hotel we can confirm that the second explosion did indeed take place and near the barren hospital at least 13 people have killed more than one five 15 are injured as we see i hear i can hear a check flying over kabul right now i can uh i can spot objects as well at least two of them in the air unclear whose chest they are but presumably these operations are these aerial operations are now being undertaken by the us itself uh there is chaos around the kabul airport uh there is a lot of intense traffic jam a lot of ambulances that i see moving uh by and uh as we speak uh the situation remains pretty grim bianca right ana is there any clarity if kabul in fact is on high alert as of now we know the taliban controls kabul has security being beefed up in the capital in light of these explosions well the security indeed has been beefed up this is what the taliban commanders tell me in fact the local taliban commander for the for the area near uh at the airport tells me that they have beefed up security they called in fort and code reinforcements as well but uh for now there is an imminent threat of of a possible another attack a lot of people are being moved in fact as i talked to you the u.s state department uh the traveler has to travel advise you and have immediately asked its nationals to leave all the gates of the hamas international airport uh uh reports the military side immediately this is what we have told uh in a tweet that they have put out they said that a national uh us nationals goes at the other gate at the north gate are immediately advised to leave the premises so uh the explosions that he heard one of them has what i witnessed is tell me was definitely a suicide attack though the officers i get to come out clear uh as i talk to you people are on mars are heading back uh towards their houses towards their destinations from where they came from uh because uh we understand that uh as i understand and as all the situation is on ground that people are now being advised to leave because of the imminent threat of a possible another explosion that is the reason a lot of people are being asked to stay away from the exclusion site or being or gathered in numbers priyanka right anas we know as you just said that 13 people so far have been killed in this explosion is there any clarity how many women and children are part of this number given the fact that there were so many families that had gathered near the airport well it's still unclear on the amount of women and children the number of women of grand children that are injured in this by the pictures coming out are pretty grim uh pretty gut quenching uh because the wheelbarrows that we use to transport uh uh luggage uh uh the big bucks uh in those same wheelbarrows we're now seeing we're seeing people being shifted uh to towards safety towards hospitals injured being shifted and the injures who are out of the pictures that are coming out uh the indians who the injured here the picture there it doesn't be quite good that speaks quite a lot of words it says and it defines the intensity of the explosion itself right anas what can you tell us about the timing of this blast given the fact that there were warnings given out earlier in the day as well as uh the fact that the deadline of august 31st is fast approaching in a few days well yeah there was an imminent threat and there was a threat that has been that has been issued as latest as just last night uh some hours back from the u.s uk france netherlands canada at least seven countries had issued a threat alert advising their nationals to stay away from the airport go into the security situation uh we saw this the first uh threat alert coming in from uh the uh from the u.s side from the from the french intelligence that was on uh that was on sunday when the french intelligence had first warned uh of a possible uh suicide attack or a possible attack by the iskp or isis as we say it and after that on tuesday we saw at least four people uh those belonging to the islamic state being arrested very near to the airport with their guns a question was also heard to uh the taliban spokesperson during his press conference on tuesday i was there and he had taxed that very question so after that uh we saw the amount of alerts that were being raised by different uh uh by different embassies by different diplomatic missions the number just increased but despite of that the people did not budge they were tested to leave uh they were destroyed to go abroad they were desperate to escape the taliban rule and uh after and in the run-up to that uh just after the the the threateners that were issued as cities as this morning today we are seeing an explosion just five to six days short of the us withdrawal this guy or all the foreign forces withdrawn that is to have that that is to end on the 31st so in the in the right after that this explosion might have some greater implications as well that can possibly result in the evacuations being slowed down as well priyanka right anna thank you for those details we'll of course come back to you for more these are this is a developing story that beyond is tracking at this hour for more perspective joining us now is joel whitaker defense expert live from london joel thank you so much for joining us we on world is one is now available in your country download the app now and get all the news updates on the move<br><!-- wp:image {"id":1776,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} -->rn<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img class="wp-image-1776" src="https://en.videoencontexto.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Afghanistan__Reports_15_people_injured_in_the_Kabul_airport_explosion__Latest_Wo_NGXCbN_zA9Y.jpg" alt="Afghanistan | Reports: 15 people injured in the Kabul airport explosion | Latest World English News" /></figure>rn<!-- /wp:image -->[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]