Aug. 27 (UPI) — The U.S. military resumed evacuations in Kabul on Friday, where crowds of Afghan civilians desperate to escape the rising tensions returned a day after two suicide bombings killed dozens of people, including a number of American troops.
Evacuations were halted on Thursday after bombers from the Islamic State-Khorasan Province, an offshoot of the Islamic State terror group, attacked a gate at the airport and a nearby hotel.
There are still thousands of Americans and Afghan supporters in Afghanistan hoping to leave the country. Evacuations on Friday ramped up ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s deadline to complete the withdrawal on Tuesday.
U.S. officials said 13 American troops were killed in the explosions, which came as U.S. and coalition officials were expecting a possible terrorist attack.
Authorities say IS-K is a rival group to the Taliban, which now govern Afghanistan, and likely carried out the attack to embarrass U.S. forces and Taliban rulers.
More than 90 Afghan civilians were killed Thursday and dozens more were hurt.
U.S. officials say they are preparing for more potential violence at the airport in Kabul and elsewhere from IS-K or other militant factions.
In a national address Thursday, Biden stuck to his plan to complete the evacuations by Tuesday, but promised that the suicide attacks would not go unpunished.
“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive,” Biden said.
“We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the attacks will not stop the U.S. military from completing the evacuations.
“We will not be dissuaded from the task at hand,” Lloyd said, according to The New York Times. “To do anything less — especially now — would dishonor the purpose and sacrifice these men and women have rendered our country and the people of Afghanistan.”
“We believe it is their desire to continue those attacks, and we expect those attacks to continue,” U.S. Marine Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said, according to The Washington Post.
“And we will continue to coordinate with them as they go forward.”