Tipsheet

Joe Biden Warns Another Attack at Kabul Airport is 'Highly Likely'

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  August 28, 2021 5:30 PM

The White House on Saturday released a statement from President Joe Biden warning that "an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours," according to commanders.

The relevant part of the statement reads:

The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high. Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours. I directed them to take every possible measure to prioritize force protection, and ensured that they have all the authorities, resources and plans to protect our men and women on the ground. They assured me that they did, and that they could take these measures while completing the mission and safely retrograding our personnel.

To say the "situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous" seems to be stating the obvious here. Yet the deadline for evacuating troops on August 31 remains, after, as Spencer aptly put it, the Biden administration "caved" to the Taliban and said they wouldn't extend it. In fact, the U.S. has already to announce the withdrawal of troops, as Landon reported earlier. 

This attack is still "highly likely" even after the Pentagon announced that 2 supposedly "high profile" ISIS-K members were killed by a U.S. drone strike, while a third was injured. There is suspicion surrounding how the members were not named, though.

Further, as Landon also covered, a senior ISIS-K commander had already warned CNN's Clarissa Ward two weeks before Thursday's tragic suicide bomb which left 13 U.S. service members dead that a "strike" was coming.

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The statement began with the president discussing that attack:

This morning, I met with my national security team in Washington and my commanders in the field. We discussed the strike that U.S. forces took last night against the terrorist group ISIS-K in Afghanistan. I said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have. This strike was not the last. We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay. Whenever anyone seeks to harm the United States or attack our troops, we will respond. That will never be in doubt. I thanked General McKenzie for his leadership of that mission, and for his commitment to the safety of our troops in Afghanistan.

While Biden may say that a response "will never be in doubt," his overall response to the withdrawal from Afghanistan, at least up until this point, has been met with swift criticism. 

Sean Parnell, who is running as a Republican to replace outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), has emphasized a sense that "it didn't have to be this way" when it comes to Thursday's tragedy.

There's also the family members of the fallen service members who have spoken out against Biden's handling. "They sent my son over there as a paper pusher and then had the Taliban outside providing security," said Steve Nikoui, whose 20-year old son, Kareem, was killed. "I blame my own military leaders… Biden turned his back on him. That’s it." 

And then there's how the president is taking a deep hit in the polls. Even analysis by Harry Enten for CNN acknowledged that Biden is facing personal record low popularity. Worse for Biden is that these dipping numbers are in part because of, but not solely due to his handling, or lack thereof, of the withdrawal. Enten points to how the Biden's handling of the pandemic, while it still has a majority of support from respondents, is also tanking.