Today's D Brief: Kabul evacuations resume; 100+ killed in attack near HKIA; Taliban vs. ISIS; Navy Cross for Marine Raider; Rescue in Tenn.; And a bit more.
By Ben Watson and Jennifer Hlad
August 27, 2021
The D Brief
More than 100 people were killed in two suicide bombing attacks Thursday just outside of the airport in Kabul. The explosions struck a dense crowd of people, many of them women and children, as well as American and Afghan service members. The death toll may continue to rise, especially since one hospital in Kabul has reportedly received 145 dead bodies, according to Sune Engel Rasmussen of the Wall Street Journal.
Thirteen Americans died in the attacks, 10 of them Marines—making Thursday the deadliest day for U.S. forces abroad since August 2011 (when 31 Americans and eight Afghans were killed after their helicopter was hit with a rocket propelled grenade over Wardak Province). Excluding helicopter shootdowns, Thursday’s attack might be the deadliest for U.S. troops of the entire Afghan war, Wesley Morgan pointed out on Twitter.
President Joe Biden promised to avenge the attacks, and to press on with a Kabul exit by Aug. 31. “To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” Biden said in remarks from the East Room of the White House on Thursday. “I’ve also ordered my commanders to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership, and facilities. We will respond with force and precision at our time,
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/the-d-brief-august-27-2021/184908/
