Avoid going to Kabul airport: US embassy warns American citizens citing `security threats`

WASHINGTON: The US embassy in Kabul has advised the American citizens not to travel to the Hamid Karzai International Airport at this time, according to an embassy security alert issued late on Wednesday.

Citizens already at the airport`s Abbey Gate, East Gate, and North Gate were advised to leave immediately, said the security alert issued by the embassy.

The alert, posted on the embassy website, gave no reason for why it was issued. "US citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately," the security alert from the US Embassy in Kabul said.

“Because of security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport & to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US govt representative to do so,”  the US Embassy said.

It followed warnings by US President Joe Biden and other administration officials of a threat by Islamic State to evacuation operations as crowds thronged airport gates, desperate to leave following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

The alert advised Americans to "be aware of your surroundings at all times, especially in large crowds."

The German Embassy has also advised its local citizens not to go to the Kabul airport, warning in an email that the Taliban were conducting increasingly strict controls around the airport.

A senior US military official said there had been short periods in the last 24 hours when the gates to Kabul airport have been closed, but no reported change in the "enemy" situation in and around the single-runway airfield.

A Taliban official, speaking to Reuters, said security risks could not be ruled out but that the group was "aiming to improve the situation and provide a smooth exit" for people trying to leave over the weekend.

The Taliban are still trying to hammer out a new government and the group's co-founder, Mullah Baradar, arrived in Kabul for talks with other leaders on Saturday.

The group's lightning advance across the country as US-led forces pulled out, coinciding with what German Chancellor Angela Merkel described as the "breathtaking collapse" of the Afghan Army, sparked fear of reprisals and a return to a harsh version of Islamic law the Taliban exercised when they were in power two decades ago.