Kabul airport attack: Harris extends unwavering support to counter terrorism threats

Washington, Aug 27 (Representative) US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in a statement marking the third anniversary of the terrorist attack outside the Kabul airport said that she will never hesitate to act to counter terrorist threats and protect the American homeland. On August 26, 2021, during the chaotic evacuation of foreign citizens and some vulnerable Afghan citizens via the airport in Kabul, a terrorist attack killed 13 US troops and 170 Afghans. The ISIS-Khorasan terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack. “As I have said, President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war. Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS [both are terrorist groups, banned in Russia], without troops deployed into combat zones.

I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland,” Harris said in a statement. Harris promised to fulfill the “sacred obligation” to care for US troops and their families and always honor their service and sacrifice. In a separate statement on the anniversary of the attack, President Joe Biden promised that the US will continue to “disrupt terrorist activity, wherever we find it” and “deliver justice to terrorists who plot against America.” “And we will do so without deploying thousands of American troops to ground wars overseas,” Biden said.

In February 2020, former President Donald Trump, brokered a deal with the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) that paved the way for intra-Afghan negotiations on a political settlement and set May 1, 2021 as the date for US troop withdrawal. In April 2021, Biden announced the drawdown of all 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan beginning May 1 and concluding by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the war. In April 2021, Harris confirmed an interview with CNN that she was the last person in the room before President Biden made the decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. In July 2021, Biden moved up the timeline for full troop withdrawal to August 31.On August 15, 2021, the Taliban took over Kabul, ousting the US-backed government and triggering the hasty evacuation.