Taliban seals off Kabul airport

Western leaders acknowledged on Saturday they were leaving behind some of their citizens and many Afghans who helped them over the years. The Taliban closed down roads to the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, as the United Kingdom completed its last evacuation flights on Saturday. Fighters cleared most of the areas outside the airport where large crowds gathered prior to Thursday’s suicide bombing there. The United States planned to keep its flights going until President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline. On Monday, a rocket attack hit a neighborhood near the airport.

Are we fighting back? On Saturday, the United States carried out a drone strike on Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, who were believed to have helped plan Thursday’s suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. Two ISIS members were killed, and one was wounded. On Sunday, a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan blew up a vehicle carrying explosives that the Pentagon said posed an imminent threat to the Kabul airport.

Dig deeper: Read WORLD’s ongoing coverage of the crisis in Afghanistan.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.