IS-K claims rocket attack on Kabul airport

• IS-K claimed responsibility for rockets fired at the Kabul airport
• US officials said 5 rockets were intercepted 
• US is looking into reports of civilians killed in Kabul airstrike

These live updates are now closed. Read the latest developments here.

Last US troops leave Afghanistan — Pentagon

The US military has announced the the last of its troops have left Afghanistan after an almost 20-year campaign. 
"I'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan," Central Command Commander General Kenneth McKenzie said. Hamid Karzai International Airport has been the scene of chaos and panic following the Taliban's capture of Kabul.
Allied countries had to scramble to airlift more than 122,000 people out of the country. 

UN adopts 'safe' departure resolution

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling on the Taliban to honor its pledges to allow Afghans and foreign nationals a "safe" departure from Afghanistan. The resolution was passed with 13 votes in favor and two abstentions, from China and Russia. 

Taliban would take Afghan deportees to face courts, says spokesman

The Taliban government would accept any Afghan migrants whose applications for asylum were rejected in Europe and they would then face court, Austrian newspaper the Kronen Zeitung quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying. 

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the newspaper that his government would be willing to accept such deportees. "Yes. They would be taken to court. The court would then have to decide how to proceed with them," Zabihullah told the newspaper when asked if it would take in Afghan asylum seekers in Germany or Austria whose asylum claims had been rejected or who had committed crimes in those European countries.

He did not elaborate on why they should be taken to court or what judgement they might face there.

Merkel, Macron discuss departure ahead of UN vote

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone to discuss how to get people out of Afghanistan after evacuation flights end at Kabul airport. 

"Both agreed that closely coordinated action by the international community is urgent in this matter. In that regard, both discussed the implementation of the latest G7 decisions as well as corresponding considerations within the framework of the United Nations," said German government spokesman Steffen Seibert.

The leaders also agreed to prioritize humanitarian aid and helping refugees on the ground.

"Our common goal is to ensure the continuation of the humanitarian evacuation of all men and women who are threatened by their deployment and who still want to leave the country, by all possible means and in particular by the rapid and safe reopening of Kabul airport," said a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry.

Pentagon says mission to end Tuesday

The withdrawal of the last US troops from Afghanistan is expected to take place as scheduled on Tuesday, said Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby.

He said that US commanders on the ground continued to be in contact with Taliban officials to help ensure a smooth exit from the airport.

The Pentagon also confirmed that more than 122,000 people, including 5,400 US citizens, have been evacuated from the country as of Monday.

"Over the weekend and into today, evacuation operations continued. Yesterday, 26 US military aircraft, all C-17s, departed with approximately 1,200 evacuees," Major General Hank Taylor told reporters. "Operations in Afghanistan will conclude soon," he said.

US says threat to Kabul airport 'still real'

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the US believes the threat to the Kabul airport persists. 

"We're in a particularly dangerous time right now," Kirby told reporters. "The threat stream is still real, it's still active, and in many cases it's still specific."

US Army Major General Hank Taylor confirmed that five rockets were fired at the Kabul airport early Monday local time. 

On Sunday, US forces successfully conducted an airstrike on a vehicle known to be an IS-K threat near the Kabul airport, Taylor said. 

"We are aware of reports of civilian casualties and we take these reports very seriously," he said, amid reports of civilian casualties of the US strike. 

Global Coalition condemns IS-K attack 

The Global Coalition of countries against the so-called "Islamic State" condemned the attack on the Kabul airport and vowed to eliminate the group and its affiliate in Afghanistan, IS-K.  

"We will draw on all elements of national power — military, intelligence, diplomatic, economic, law enforcement — to ensure the defeat of this brutal terrorist organization," the coalition said in a statement released by the US State Department.

The Global Coalition, which was formed in 2014 to fight IS in Syria, pledged to "to identify and bring their members to justice," the statement said. 

US says 1,200 people evacuated 

The White House has said US forces helped fly 1,200 people out of Afghanistan on Sunday.  

Since August 14, a day before the Taliban captured Kabul, the US has evacuated around 116,700 people, the White House added.

Germany pledges €500 million to Afghanistan's neighbors

Germany's foreign minister said that Berlin had set aside €500 million ($590 million) as "immediate aid" that could support Afghanistan's neighboring countries as they receive refugees. 

"We will support the countries of the region and the people in Afghanistan," Heiko Maas said on Monday in Tajikistan — part of his four-day trip to countries that could host Afghans seeking to flee.

 

WHO medical supplies shipment arrives in Afghanistan

A plane carrying 12.5 tons of health supplies and medicines landed in Afghanistan, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

"After days of non-stop work to find a solution, I am very pleased to say that we have now been able to partially replenish stocks of health facilities in Afghanistan and ensure that — for now – WHO-supported health services can continue," Ahmed Al Mandhari, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said in a statement. 

WHO said the shipment had enough to cover the basic health needs of more than 200,000 people as well as provide 3,500 surgical procedures and treat 6,500 trauma patients. 

The plane was provided by the government of Pakistan. It left from Dubai and landed in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of the northern Balkh province.

Pakistan's ambassador to Kabul, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, said the state-run Pakistan International Airlines will serve as a humanitarian air bridge for essential supplies to Afghanistan. 

IS-K says it fired rockets at Kabul airport

In a statement published on the Telegram messaging platform, the IS-K group said that it had fired six rockets targeting the Kabul airport. The "Islamic State" affiliate in Afghanistan also said some people were injured in the attack.

These claims were not immediately verifiable and contradicted US military accounts in places. 

A US official said that five rockets, not six, were fired, and that the US thwarted the attack. The official also said there were no US casualties or injuries.

Germany flew in 138 local staff: spokesperson

A spokesperson for Germany's Interior Ministry said the German airlift from Kabul brought 138 local staff and their family members — a total of 634 people — to Germany. 

There are at least 40,000 requests from people seeking to be flown out of Kabul, the spokesperson said. 

Germany's foreign minister said on Monday that the operation to help these people out of Afghanistan had no specific "end-point."

"This is something that we will have to handle in the coming weeks and probably also months," Maas said during a visit to Uzbekistan.

What is the situation on the Uzbek border? 

There are potentially tens of thousands of Afghans who would want to escape Afghanistan through Uzbekistan. DW correspondent in Tashkent Nick Connolly said that people in northern Afghan regions are especially more likely to seek this route as Uzbekistan is closer than Kabul — and to avoid Taliban checkpoints.

However, Uzbekistan has not been allowing everyone to enter. Mostly, people who already had visas, politicians, and people from the Uzbek ethnic minority in Afghanistan have been allowed entry, he added.

Germany is seeking to evacuate more people out of Kabul on charter flights. Still, the challenge of people even reaching the airport in Kabul remains, Connolly said, adding that another option was to ask Afghanistan's neighbors to open their land borders. 

"But the Uzbek government is very very careful, and is worried, on one hand, of straining relations with the Taliban next door they they are going to have to work with. And secondly, of turning into, basically, essentially a refugee camp for Europe," he said.  

Larger crisis 'is just beginning,' UNHCR warns

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) called for the protection of Afghans, whether they choose to stay in Amsterdam or seek to leave after the end of the evacuation mission. 

"The airlifts out of Kabul will end in a matter of days, and the tragedy that has unfolded will no longer be as visible. But it will still be a daily reality for millions of Afghans," UNHCR chief said Filippo Grandi said in a statement. 

"We must not turn away. A far greater humanitarian crisis is just beginning," he added.

Grandi called for humanitarian assistance to people in Afghanistan and urged countries to open their borders to Afghans seeking protection. 

Borrell: EU has to 'draw lessons'

In an interview published Monday, the European Union's foreign policy chief Jossep Borrell told Italian paper Corriere della Sera the bloc needed to build a common defense policy.

Borrell noted that the US managed to deploy more troops to Afghanistan as soon as security deteriorated, but the EU could not. 

"We need to draw lessons from this experience... as Europeans we have not been able to send 6,000 soldiers around the Kabul airport to secure the area. The US has been, we haven't," he said. 

Borrell also said the EU should provide financial support to Afghanistan's neighboring countries who could receive fleeing Afghans. 

"Afghans fleeing the country are not going to reach Rome in the first place, but maybe Tashkent. We need to help those countries that will be on the front line," he told the paper. 

Rocket attack bears hallmark of IS, journalist tells DW

Swiss journalist Franz Marty, who is in Kabul, said the mode of Monday's rocket attack, using a rocket launcher hidden in a car, was typical of the methods used by the extremist IS group. He said the airport had been the apparent target.

Marty told DW that the airport in Kabul was now largely closed off and that only US passport-holders and military personnel were being allowed in.

US and allied forces are rushing to complete their own withdrawal by a Tuesday deadline agreed with the Taliban, the militant Islamist group that is set to rule Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan gives assurances to German foreign minister

Uzbekistan has said it will open its borders to people on a German list of those in danger from Taliban rule in Afghanistan, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has told journalists. 

The list of people needing to be still evacuated includes German citizens, local Afghan support staff and other members of other groups such as human rights activists and journalists. The number of those identified runs into the tens of thousands.

Maas, who is in Uzbekistan to discuss the impact of the crisis in Afghanistan, also said that Russia and China need to be involved in talks on the future of the country.

Taliban criticize US for attack

A Taliban spokesman has criticized the United States for carrying out Sunday's attack in Kabul without informing the Taliban first.

Zabihullah Mujahid told China's state television CGTN that it was unlawful for the US to stage attacks in other countries at will. He said seven people had been killed in the attack, including civilians. 

Russia offers to evacuate more people

The Russian Embassy in Kabul has said Russian citizens and residents, along with nationals of countries that are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization — a post-Soviet security bloc — can still apply to leave Afghanistan on additional evacuation flights. 

Russia flew out about 360 people from Afghanistan last week.  

White House statement on rocket attacks at the airport

Washington has said that operations continue "uninterrupted" at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

In a statement issued early Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden had "reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble efforts" to protect US forces on the ground.

Rockets fired at Kabul airport

Rockets were launched at Kabul airport early on Monday, several media agencies have reported. It wasn't immediately clear who launched the projectiles.

AFP said the airport's missile defense system was activated in response to the rocket fire, according to reporters on the ground.

A US official said that as many as five rockets were shot off towards Kabul airport, but they were intercepted by the US missile defense system. The official said there were no indication of US casualties from the rockets so far.

Heiko Maas lands in Uzbekistan

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas landed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to discuss the impact of the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan. Later on Monday, Maas will go to Dushanbe in Tajikistan for talks.

On Tuesday, Maas will visit Islamabad, Pakistan's capital. 

All three countries border Afghanistan and are destinations for Afghan refugees. Maas has pledged the three border countries humanitarian and economic aid.

US military looking into reports of airstrike casualties

The Pentagon acknowledged reports of civilian casualties from a US drone strike in Kabul on Sunday, according to a statement from US Central Command spokesperson Bill Urban. 

"We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul today," Urban said, while adding the Pentagon is still assessing the results of the strike.

"We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties," he continued.

"We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life," Urban said.

CNN reported that nine members of a family, including six children, were killed in the airstrike. An anonymous Afghan official also told AP news agency that three children were killed in the strike near Kabul airport.

Afghan broadcaster ToloNews reported that at least 10 civilians were killed in the strike. 

The Pentagon said the strike targeted an "imminent" suicide bomb threat from several members of the "Islamic State-Khorasan" IS-K group. The bombers were reportedly planning to target Kabul airport, where the US military is conducting an ongoing evacuation mission.

IS-K claimed responsibility for a deadly Kabul airport bombing that killed US troops earlier in the week.

Countries to hold virtual meeting 

Foreign ministers from several countries will meet virtually on Monday to discuss their plans for Afghanistan, the US State Department has announced. 

Representatives from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, Turkey, Qatar, the European Union and NATO are set to participate, the State Department said.

"The participants will discuss an aligned approach for the days and weeks ahead," the statement said.

The statement also said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would speak after the meeting to give an update on the US' recent efforts in Afghanistan.

German chancellor candidates on Afghanistan 

In a televised debate, the three candidates to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany's election touched on events in Afghanistan. 

Armin Laschet for Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) described what happened as "a disaster for the West, also a disaster for the German government" and renewed a call for a "national security council'' to improve decision-making in Germany.

Annalena Baerbock for the environmentalist Greens accused the government of "ducking away'' from decisions on assisting endangered Afghans out of the country.

Olaf Scholz for the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) said the Left Party's refusal to support the military evacuation mission from Kabul "greatly saddened'' him and insisted that any government he leads must have "a clear commitment to NATO.''

Sunday's main developments in Afghanistan

Welcome to our rolling coverage on events in Afghanistan. On Sunday, the US military carried out an attack on "multiple 'IS-K' suicide bombers," according to officials. A drone strike blew up their vehicle before they could attack the ongoing evacuation at Kabul's international airport. 

The Taliban has said it will let all foreigners and locals with travel authorization leave before the scheduled US withdrawal on Tuesday.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas started a five-country Afghanistan mission. He held initial talks in Turkey over the operation of Kabul airport.

jsi, fb, wd, mv/rt (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)