US President Joe Biden promised to punish the militants who organized the terrorist attack near the airport.

Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

We will remind, on August 26 as a result of several acts of sabotage in the Afghan capital, according to media reports, more than 170 people were killed.

The deaths of 13 American servicemen are also reported.

The explosions thundered at the north gate of the airport and near the Baron Hotel, located not far from the air harbor.

“Those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wants to harm America, know: we will not forgive.

We will not forget.

We will find you and make you pay.

I will protect our interests and our people by all means available to me, ”Biden said.

Referring to US intelligence data, the head of the White House blamed the attack on Vilayat Khorasan (a branch of IS * in Afghanistan), a group operating in the republic and neighboring Pakistan.

Biden also said that he instructed the United States military command to develop a plan to strike at the leaders and positions of this group.

At the same time, the US President stressed that Washington does not intend to launch a new military campaign.

“And as for the search, finding the leaders of ISIS, on whose orders this was carried out, we have some reason to believe that we know who these people are (although there is no complete certainty), and we will find ways to catch them - in our own way, without major military operations ... wherever they are, ”Biden said.

In memory of the soldiers killed in Kabul, the United States declared mourning.

Before sunset on August 30, state flags will be lowered over the White House and other US administrative agencies.

"Pessimistic forecasts"

Since mid-August, Afghanistan has been effectively under the rule of the Taliban **.

On his Twitter page, a representative of this movement, Wardak Alhanafi, expressed concern about what had happened.

He did not name those responsible, but said that the United States is responsible for the security of the airport, as it controls it.

The Kremlin also condemned the attacks in Kabul.

On August 27, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that the terrorists took advantage of the chaos that reigned in Afghanistan.

“Unfortunately, pessimistic predictions are confirmed that the chaos that has arisen in Afghanistan will certainly not fail to take advantage of the terrorist groups and organizations that have settled there, primarily ISIS and ISIS derivatives,” said Peskov.

  • A column of Afghans waiting in line to board a U.S. Air Force plane

  • AFP

  • © Donald R. ALLEN / US AIR FORCE

Experts believe that the attack in Kabul was a direct consequence of the hasty withdrawal of American troops.

In June, the Taliban launched a large-scale offensive against the provinces of the republic.

The government army in most cases offered practically no resistance.

On August 15, the Taliban announced the capture of Kabul and power in the country. 

The Kabul airport remains virtually the only harbor through which you can leave Afghanistan.

The United States and other Western states are hastily trying to evacuate their citizens and Afghans, who have worked with them since 2001, from the republic.

In an interview with RT, Dmitry Egorchenkov, director of the RUDN Institute for Strategic Studies, said that the terrorist attack in Kabul was eloquent evidence of Washington's inability to ensure security in strategically important zones in Kabul.

“The tragedy in Kabul is a direct consequence of the ill-considered actions of the United States.

The withdrawal of troops and the evacuation of diplomats, reminiscent of flight, destabilized the situation, provoked chaos at the airport and in the adjacent territories, which in the end the terrorists took advantage of, ”says Yegorchenkov.

In his opinion, the terrorist attack near the Kabul air harbor testifies to the failure of American policy of the past two decades.

This course was characterized by gross interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and a number of Middle Eastern countries, "where terrorism has also raised its head."

“The United States came with the aim of 'liberating' peoples and fighting terrorists, but in fact it was the presence of Washington that led to the widespread spread of radical ideas and extremist groups.

From what, as we can see, both the Americans themselves and local civilians suffer, ”Yegorchenkov stated.

"Vilayat Khorasan", which, from the point of view of US intelligence, is the organizer of the terrorist attack in Kabul, is considered one of the most aggressive extremist cells in IS, political analysts remind.

The report of UN Secretary General António Guterres, Children and Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, which was published in 2019, stated that Vilayat Khorasan was established in January 2015.

The gang consists of Pakistani jihadists, militants who were part of the Afghan Taliban units, as well as members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (Islamic Party of Turkestan) ***.

The group is based in the eastern part of Afghanistan.

At the time of publication of the report, "Vilayat Khorasan" numbered 2,500-4,000 militants.

The organization is known for attacks in large cities, attacks on schools, hospitals, murders of children and recruiting minors into its ranks.

A common practice of the group is the use of suicide bombers.

The June 2019 report of the UN Security Council Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Committee reported that Vilayat Khorasan maintained direct ties with the ISIS core in Iraq and Syria.

In particular, terrorists from Afghanistan discussed personnel appointments with Middle Eastern extremists, coordinated the preparation of propaganda videos in Arabic and Pashto.

  • ISIS convoy

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Handout / ZUMAPRESS.com

Earlier, "Vilayat Khorasan" received financial support "from the main center" in the Middle East, but later, as noted in the document, began to rely more heavily on "self-financing."

The group's income was based on illegal mining, logging, extortion from transport companies, "taxing local households, collecting funds from solidarity funds of foreign mosques and international donations." 

The Guterres report notes that the territorial expansion of Vilayat Khorasan in Afghanistan was constrained by "the operations of the Afghan security forces and international forces, the mobilization of local militias and, in addition, the offensive actions of the Taliban."

"Reduce the intensity of the negative"

In a commentary to RT, Omar Nessar, a researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary Afghanistan (TsISA), noted that Vilayat Khorasan is one of the most radical cells of IS, since it is aimed at active expansion inside Afghanistan and beyond.

“This cell is very dangerous because it sets itself such global goals and objectives as going beyond Afghanistan and spreading across Central Asia and other regions,” Nessar said.

In turn, Dmitry Egorchenkov stressed that any IS cell is an aggressive and extremely dangerous formation "regardless of name and location."

“I think that the United States now does not have a clear understanding of who exactly should be punished for a terrorist attack.

After Biden's speech, I got the impression that he was just saying what they wrote to him.

To save his reputation, Biden needed to name the enemy who needed revenge.

Actually, he did it, referring to the special services, ”says Yegorchenkov.

Also on russian.rt.com Formation of a new authority and resistance to the Taliban: how events are developing in Afghanistan

At the same time, experts interviewed by RT doubt that during the planned strikes, the United States will be able to implement the plan to defeat Vilayat Khorasan.

Analysts recalled that the leaders of the IS gangs in Afghanistan were repeatedly destroyed, but such operations did not have a significant impact on the activities of the groups.

For example, the report of the UN Security Council Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Committee reported that several important leaders of Vilayat Khorasan were killed in 2018.

In April, in Faryab province, one of the leaders of the ethnic Uzbek group, Kari Hekmatulla, was killed in an air strike; in August, in Nangarhar province, the leader, Abu Said Bajauri, was liquidated.

In December 2018, the "acting" head of "Vilayat Khorasan" Kari Riaz was killed.

Nevertheless, as follows from the materials of the world organization, the group continued to function.

“A series of air strikes will not change the situation.

Washington does not want to get involved in a new conflict and again get stuck in Afghanistan.

In my opinion, such measures are necessary for Biden to solve domestic political problems - he needs to reduce the intensity of negativity due to the problems that arose as a result of the hasty withdrawal of troops and the evacuation of civilians, ”Nessar said.

At the same time, the analyst fears that civilians in Afghanistan may become victims of American bombing, as before.

According to him, the infrastructure of IS terrorists is often tightly integrated into the residential areas of Afghan cities.

“Biden's announced airstrikes on IS cells can only further complicate the situation.

The fact is that the forces of IS in Afghanistan are concentrated in residential areas of the settlements of Afghanistan.

Strikes against them will entail casualties among the civilian population, and the Americans are unlikely to fight on the ground - now it is too risky, "Nessar emphasized.

* "Islamic State" (IS, ISIS) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2014.

** "Taliban" - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 02.14.2003.

*** "Islamic Party of Turkestan" (former "Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan") - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 02.14.2003.