TEHRAN — 170 people were killed in four massive explosions in Kabul on Thursday. By who? ISIS!

170 people were killed, including at least 13 U.S. service members, at the Kabul airport on Thursday afternoon when two blasts ripped through masses trying to enter a facility controlled by the Americans, disturbing the final push of the U.S.-led evacuation effort.

A suicide bomb attack at the airport’s Abbey Gate was followed by an assault by gunmen, officials said. Another bomb attack took place nearby, at a hotel outside the airport, officials said. Eighteen U.S. service members were injured, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

Americans are leaving Afghanistan in utter humiliation, a Saigon 2.0, as experts call it.

The attack marked the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan since 2011, and came just five days before the Biden administration’s deadline for the complete military withdrawal from the country. The military expects more attacks, Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie told reporters.

Biden on Thursday evening said he was heartbroken by the violence and vowed to retaliate for the attacks, while promising to continue evacuation efforts.

“We will hunt you down and make you pay,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. He said he had instructed his national security advisers to develop response plans to the attack.

Biden said that the frantic evacuation of U.S. citizens and allies from Afghanistan will continue even as he pledged to hunt down those responsible for the attacks.

He spoke after the U.S. military sustained one of its highest single-day American tolls during its 20-year Afghanistan campaign.

“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive,” the American president said. 

The bombs were set off near a gathering of families at the airport gates who were desperately hoping to make one of the last evacuation flights out. Gunfire was reported in the aftermath of the explosions.

Biden said he had asked his commanders to find ways to target ISIS-K, the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the attacks earlier in the day on behalf of its loyalists in Afghanistan.

Only 25% of respondents said they approved of Biden's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan
 

He vowed the United States would respond with force at “a moment of our choosing,” resonating George W. Bush’s remarks days after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
“This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing,” Bush said, weeks before the U.S. military began fighting in Afghanistan.

Biden spoke from the East Room of the White House shortly after the Pentagon confirmed the deaths of the American service members.

“These American service members who gave their lives,” Biden said, were “heroes who have been engaged in a dangerous, selfless mission to save the lives of others.”

He called Thursday “a tough day” and pledged that the United States would uphold its “sacred obligation” to the families of the fallen.

“These American service members who gave their lives,” he said, were “heroes who have been engaged in a dangerous, selfless mission to save the lives of others.”

The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, and withdrew in 2021. Seemingly, 20 years of looting was not enough for the Americans. Possibly, they now have decided to put ISIS in charge in Afghanistan, a strategic move, but not too smart. 

On August 10, 2016 Donald Trump said, "Hillary Clinton created ISIS with Obama." In 2015, ISIS was estimated to have an annual budget of more than $1 billion. A declassified secret U.S. intelligence report, written in August 2012, uncannily predicts and effectively welcomes the prospect of a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria and an al-Qaeda-controlled Islamic state in Syria and Iraq. In stark contrast to Western claims at the time, the Defense Intelligence Agency document identifies al-Qaeda in Iraq (which became ISIS) and fellow Salafists as the “major forces driving the insurgency in Syria” and states that “Western countries, the (Persian) Gulf states and Turkey” were supporting the opposition’s efforts to take control of eastern Syria.

Raising the “possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality”, the Pentagon report goes on to say “this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran)”.

A year into the Syrian rebellion, the U.S. and its allies weren’t only supporting and arming an opposition they knew to be dominated by extreme sectarian groups; they were prepared to countenance the creation of some sort of “Islamic state,” despite the grave danger to Iraq’s unity.

The embarrassing evacuation process led by Biden administration has drastically affected Biden’s popularity. According to a poll conducted by USA Today, Biden's approval rating has fallen to the lowest point in his young presidency, sliding below 50% for the first time a new NBC poll found, as COVID-19 cases rise and he battles fallout from a chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The poll, conducted from Aug. 14-17 and released on August 22, found 49% approve of Biden's job performance while 48% disapprove. Other polls this week also found Biden's approval rating slipping: CBS (50%), Ipsos (46%) and YouGov (44%).

An NBC poll in April found 53% of Americans approved of Biden's job performance.

Only 25% of respondents said they approved of Biden's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was taken over in a lighting way by the Taliban. Yet the majority of Americans still support getting out of the country. Sixty-one percent said the war was not worth it.

American warmongering is nothing new. Americans entered Afghanistan to implement a three-stage plan. To overthrow the Taliban, rebuild the central institutions, shift to the classical doctrine of counterinsurgency. After two decades none of the goals were realized.

But after 20 years, not only they have not been able to topple the Taliban, They are leaving Afghanistan in utter humiliation, a Saigon 2.0, as experts call it. The Biden administration has not been able to fool anyone this time, as the polls suggest. 

The U.S. is withdrawing from Afghanistan, sure. But what are they doing now? Are they are really putting ISIS as their puppet in Afghanistan to take the matters into their own hands? The neighboring countries to Afghanistan must be wary of this threat and respond to Iran’s call regarding the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

The Iranian foreign minister embraced his Pakistani counterpart’s proposal to hold a foreign ministerial meeting of six neighboring countries, announcing Tehran’s readiness to host that meeting in the coming days.

Following his meeting with Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian underlined that the Afghanistan issue was high on his agenda of talks with the Pakistani foreign minister.

Iran has time and again tried to broker peace between all sides in Afghanistan, supporting intra-Afghan talks. After the Taliban takeover, Iran called for the formation of an inclusive government, with the presence of all Afghan ethnicities. It is high time neighbors join Iran. 

SA/PA