Kabul Bomb Attack, Retaliation and the End of America’s Longest War

Kabul, Afghanistan. Source: Ninara, licensed under Generic (CC BY 2.0).

The Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul Afghanistan has been flooded with Americans, Afghan allies and others seeking to escape the Taliban. On August 26, ISIS-K, an Afghan terrorists organization, used a sucide bomber to detonate an explosive near the airport, killing 13 U.S. service members and injuring 18. In total, nearly 200 people were killed from the bombing and ISIS later took responsibility for the attack. 

“We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay,” President Biden said in a press conference on August 28. 

The U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in the attack were all under the age of 35 and included Marines, a Navy medic and a member of the Army. President Biden spoke regarding the U.S. soldiers who lost their lives and said that they were “heros who had been engaged in a dangerous, selfless mission to save the lives of others.” 

After 20 years of the United States involvement in the war in Afghanistan, the war ended on August 31. The last U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, Major General Christopher Donahue, boarded a plane on August 31 to endAmerican military presence in Afghanistan. 

“The women and men of the United States military, our Diplomatic corps and intelligence professionals did their job,” President Biden said in a public address on August 31. “Risking their lives, not for professional gain, but to serve others, not in a mission of war, but in a mission of mercy.”  

Two days after the ISIS terrorist attack on August 28, the Pentagon confirmed that U.S. Military Forces killed two high-profile ISIS targets in an act of retaliation. The Taliban condemned the U.S. for the air strike. The drone used by the U.S. in the attack was unmanned and resulted in as many as nine civilian casualties, according to Afghan citizens. 

“U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner,” Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command said on August 27.

Since U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, American forces conducted a controlled detonation of a C.I.A.  outpost outside the Kabul airport. The base was purposely destroyed to ensure that the equipment and information left behind by the U.S. military would not fall into the possession of the Taliban. 

The future of Afghanistan and the presence of the Taliban in the country are currently unknown. Afghans are currently living through their first days without U.S. military presence since 2001. 

“We will maintain the fight against terroism in Afghanistan, we just don’t need to fight a ground war to do it” President Biden said on August 31. “I believe this is the right decision, the wise decision and the best decision for America.”