Tipsheet

'We Thought This Would Happen': Pentagon Gives Details on Kabul Suicide Bombings

General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), confirmed that 12 U.S. service members were killed while an additional 15 were injured in the suicide attacks outside the Kabul airport Thursday. He was clear that the U.S. airlift operation will carry on despite the twin bombings outside of Hamid Karzai International Airport but was clear about the "very real threat" from ISIS-K, adding that he expects attacks to continue. "Typically, the pattern is multiple attacks," McKenzie said. 

The first suicide attack was carried out near the "entry point of the base" with what McKenzie believes to be one bomb detonated by someone before he or she was able to get inside the airport's Abbey Gate or onto the installation. The suicide bomber was in a group of people moving toward the airport for screening by U.S. personnel before being allowed onto the airfield at HKIA and ultimately aboard a plane departing Afghanistan. 

"Americans have got to be in danger to do these searches," McKenzie said of the screening procedures aimed at preventing someone with a bomb or other weapon from getting on a plane.

"We expected" an attack, McKenzie said. "We thought this would happen sooner or later."

McKenzie reported that the United States is "still investigating" the "cowardly" attack before making official its attribution for the suicide bombings, but insisted that "we have the forces we need to protect ourselves."

The Taliban fighters operating the checkpoints around Kabul's airport have been doing some initial screening of people headed to the airfield for evacuation, McKenzie noted, saying he believes that other suicide attacks "have been thwarted" by the Taliban checkpoints. He also revealed that some intelligence and threat stream information has been shared with the Taliban, but not a full picture.

The U.S. military will continue to use the "Taliban as a tool to protect us as much as possible," McKenzie added.

McKenzie reported that there are "very, very real threat streams" that suggest the American forces operating at HKIA are still under threat of "imminent" attacks. 

The threats include rocket attacks against HKIA, but there are American anti-rocket and anti-mortar systems on the installation that "are pretty effective" at stopping such attacks. McKenzie also said the threat of a vehicle-borne suicide attack "is high right now" and a walk-up suicide attack remains a threat as well.  

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tweeted a statement expressing his "condolences to the loved ones and teammates of all those killed and wounded in Kabul today."

Following McKenzie's briefing, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby refused to take any additional questions from reporters.