Ready to take over Kabul airport: Taliban

Ground Report | New Delhi: Ready to take over Kabul airport; An Afghan Taliban official has said that his group is ready to take full control of Kabul airport after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. The Taliban official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "We are waiting for the signal from the Americans so that we can take control of Kabul airport. We both want that to happen soon. "

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Ready to take over Kabul airport

"Our engineers and technical staff are fully prepared to handle the airport," he added. On the other hand, US President Joe Biden says that he is following the announced date of withdrawal till Tuesday. Under an agreement with the United States, the Taliban say they will allow foreigners and Afghans to leave the country.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid acknowledged that the Taliban's capture of Kabul was "sudden" which was "not expected". At the same time, he said that there are "some difficulties" informing the government but discussions are on this.

The United States and its allies have evacuated more than 113,000 people from Afghanistan in the past two weeks, but there are still tens of thousands who will be left behind when the deadline expires.

According to a US official, there are less than 4,000 US troops at Kabul airport as of Saturday. The maximum number of troops during the evacuation was 5,800.

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In the wake of the deadly attack on Kabul airport three days ago , the United States has warned its citizens to leave the area, warning of a "specific and verified threat" near Hamid Karzai International Airport.

'Certified threat'

Terrorist threats have hampered U.S. military-led evacuation efforts, and Washington has called for closer security cooperation with the Taliban in the wake of Thursday's ISIS Khurasan group attack that killed dozens of Afghan civilians, including 13 Americans. Has been forced to prevent such an incident from happening again.

The US embassy in Kabul said in a security alert: "Because of a specific and verified threat, US citizens should immediately leave all areas around Kabul airport," the AFP news agency reported. '

In its warning, the US embassy described the south gate of Airport Circle, the new Interior Ministry office and the gate near the Panjshir petrol station on the northwest side of the airport as a danger zone.

Earlier on Saturday, US President Joe Biden called the situation "extremely dangerous" and warned that his military commanders believed a new attack could take place in the next 24 to 36 hours.

The Khurasan group of ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on Kabul airport on Thursday, after which the United States claimed to have killed the group's 'planner' in a drone strike in retaliation.

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