What Taliban has said about deadly blasts outside Kabul airport

Smoke rises from a deadly explosion outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. AP

The Islamic State-claimed twin suicide blasts ripped through crowds outside Kabul airport on Thursday, killing over 100 people including 13 US troops and deepening panic in the final days of an already frenzied evacuation effort from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

However, the US has said that the militant organisation may not be responsible for this particular carnage. Some reports even suggested that the Taliban, given their rivalry with the IS-Khorasan Province group, was as much a target for attacks as the US.

But overall the US did a better job at making a case for the Taliban than the extremist militant group themselves, as their PR response to a tragedy of this magnitude faltered with too many and delayed responses.

Many tongues of Taliban

Foremost, the Taliban, long criticized for its ties to extremist groups, in fact, denounced the attack.

“The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns the bombing of civilians at Kabul airport, which took place in an area where US forces are responsible for security,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in a Twitter statement, using another name for the group. He promised that the Taliban will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of its citizens.

غبرګون:
اسلامي امارت د کابل په هوايي ډګر کې په ملکي خلکو چاودنه په کلکه غندي، یاده چاودنه په هغه سیمه کې ترسره شوې چې د‌ امنيت مسئولیت يې د امريکايي ځواکونو په لاس کې دی.
اسلامي امارت د خپلو خلکو امنيت او ساتنې ته کلک متوجه دی، د شر غوښتونکو کړيو مخه به په کلکه سره ونيول شي.

— Suhail Shaheen. محمد سهیل شاهین (@suhailshaheen1) August 26, 2021

Another spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had earlier denied that any attack was imminent at the airport despite several western countries’ intelligence inputs claiming otherwise. After the attack, he appeared to shirk blame, noting the airport is controlled by US troops even as the group’s fighters have been deployed in the area and were occasionally accused of using heavy-handed tactics to control the crowds.

Later an anonymous source from within Taliban told Reuters news agency that at least 28 members of the Taliban are among the people killed in explosions overnight outside the airport.

“We have lost more people than the Americans,” said the official, who declined to be identified. He said there was no reason to extend the August 31 deadline for foreign forces to leave the country.

Another Taliban official told The Washington Post that the group has “launched an investigation to know the nature of the blasts and why it happened.”

US denies Taliban role in Kabul blast

The US seems to have cleared Taliban of any blame in what is being labelled one of the worst tragedies involving US troopers.

US President Joe Biden, facing an all-time low approval rating at home and unprecedented criticism for a “hasty and unplanned” withdrawal, claimed that he hasn’t received any proof that the Taliban was in on the plan.

The security operation at Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul depended heavily on the Taliban for its effectiveness. But Biden says he doesn’t believe relying on the Taliban for help in evacuation security was “a mistake.”

“Even today 5,000 Americans got out safe. It’s not a matter of trust but of mutual self-interest. There is no evidence that I’ve been given thus far that there has been collusion between the Taliban and ISIS,” the US president said.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that it is true that the Taliban has been screening people outside the gates, but there was no indication that the Taliban deliberately allowed Thursday’s attacks to happen. He said the US has asked Taliban commanders to tighten security around the airport’s perimeter.

While US intelligence officials believe al-Qaida fighters are integrated among the Taliban, US says that the Taliban, by contrast, have waged major, coordinated offensives against the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. Taliban insurgents at times joined with both the US and US-backed Afghan government forces to rout the Islamic State from parts of Afghanistan’s northeast.

A US Defense Department official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was working covertly, said previously that the Trump administration had sought its 2020 withdrawal deal with the Taliban partly in hopes of joining forces with them against the Islamic State affiliate. The administration saw that group as the real threat to the American homeland.

IS also said the bomber managed to get past Taliban security checkpoints to come within 5 meters (yards) of a gathering of US soldiers, translators and collaborators before detonating his explosives. It said the Taliban were also among the casualties.

But acting Afghanistan president Amrullah Saleh wasn’t convinced. He took the opportunity to point out that Taliban has had links with the Islamic State in the past.

Every evidence we have in hand shows that IS-K cells have their roots in Talibs & Haqqani network particularly the ones operating in Kabul. Talibs denying links with ISIS is identical/similar to denial of Pak on Quetta Shura. Talibs hv leanred vry well from the master. #Kabul

— Amrullah Saleh (@AmrullahSaleh2) August 27, 2021