A ROCKET struck a neighbourhood just northwest of Kabul’s international airport on Sunday as the US evacuation there winds down following the Taliban’s lightning takeover of the country, killing a child, an Afghan police chief said. The attack comes as the United States winds down a historic airlift that saw tens of thousands evacuated from Kabul’s international airport, the scene of much of the chaos that engulfed the Afghan capital since the Taliban took over two weeks ago.

 

After an Islamic State affiliate’s suicide attack that killed over 180 people, the Taliban increased its security around the airfield. US military cargo planes continued their runs into the airport on Sunday, ahead of a Tuesday deadline earlier set by President Joe Biden to withdraw all troops from America’s longest war. The rocket struck Kabul’s Khuwja Bughra neighborhood.

 

No group immediately claimed the attack, however militants have fired rockets in the past. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden had warned of another terrorist attack on the Kabul airport in the next 24 to 36 hours, as the US rushed to evacuate the few remaining Americans and Afghan allies ahead of the August 31 deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan. Biden also vowed to keep up retaliatory strikes against the terrorists.