'What the Americans want is to destabilise Iran. For destabilising Iran, you need access. 'One access is through Iraq. The other access is through Pakistan.'
Sharifullah, also known as Jafar, is an ISIS-K member and was directly responsible for the killing of 13 US soldiers and roughly 170 Afghans at the Hamid Karzai international airport's 'Abbey Gate' on August 26, 2021.
Trump thanked the Government of Pakistan for "helping arrest this monster".
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked US President Donald Trump for acknowledging Pakistan's role in counter-terrorism efforts after the country arrested a wanted terrorist. Trump thanked the Pakistani government for helping arrest "Mohammad Shareefullah", also known as Jafar, who supported and conducted activities on behalf of ISIS-K in support of multiple lethal attacks, including the Abbey Gate attack in 2021. Sharif said the terrorist, an Afghan national, had been apprehended in an operation along the border with Afghanistan.
In a statement, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said US President Joe Biden was briefed about the rocket attack by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chief of Staff Ron Klain.
Taliban hails US departure from Afghanistan as 'historic moment'.
An ISIS suicide bomber was responsible for the explosion outside the Kabul airport, Politico reported citing US officials.
The Hamid Karzai International Airport is the only access point for the international community to reach out to people in Afghanistan, a land locked country.
An explosion was reported in the capital city of Afghanistan. Sputnik reported citing local sources that the blast was the result of a rocket landing on a residential building near the Kabul airport and that it had killed a child,
Twenty to thirty rockets landed at Hamid Karzai International Airport in the centre of Kabul, Tolo news reported. There are no reports of causalities yet.
Scenes from the Afghan capital a day after the Taliban entered Kabul.
"The embassy remains open and we plan to continue our diplomatic work in Afghanistan. The United States will continue to support consular services, and that includes the processing and operations of the Special Immigrant Visa Program, and we'll continue to engage in diplomacy with the Afghan government and the Afghan people. Additionally, we will continue our focus on counterterrorism," he said.
"We appeal to the officials of past governments to return to their country as we will give them full protection of their lives. We are faced with the huge task of rebuilding and reconstruction of war-ravaged Afghanistan," he said.
At least seven people, including three Afghan nationals who clung to a US Air Force plane to escape Taliban rule, died on Monday in a melee at the Kabul airport, as hundreds of people scrambled to board flights in a desperate bid to get out of Afghanistan, following the toppling of the government led by President Ashraf Ghani.
The president said the ISIS-K was behind the gruesome attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul and at a hotel nearby.
The terror group is in touch with the international community and intra-Afghan parties to make government in Afghanistan.
The Talibs appear in complete control of Afghanistan days after American troops left the country.
US President Joe Biden will address the American people on US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on Tuesday.
"Today's attacks reinforce the need for the world to stand unitedly against terrorism and all those who provide sanctuaries to terrorists," the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Simultaneously more than 60 countries led by the United States and the European Union issued a joint statement urging those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan to bear responsibility and accountability for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order.
Women petition the Taliban. Talibs patrol Kabul's streets. Afghans flee into Pakistan.
The US military engaged the C-RAM missile defence, but, according to ABC News, it is still unclear whether all of the rockets were successfully intercepted.
The second batch of 146 Indian nationals who were evacuated from Afghanistan via Doha arrived in the national capital on Monday on various flights.
Strongly condemning the terrorist strikes in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, India has told the United Nations Security Council that these attacks reinforce the need for the world to stand unitedly against terrorism and all those who provide sanctuaries to terrorists.
Britain on Thursday warned that there was a 'very credible' report of an 'imminent' terrorist attack by the Islamic State terrorists targeting those gathering at Kabul airport in an attempt to flee war-torn Afghanistan.
The Taliban have said that religious scholars will lead the upcoming government in Afghanistan as the country's government collapsed over a week ago when the terror group seized Kabul, a media report said.
Taliban also blamed the US for encouraging the Afghan elite to leave the country, Tolo News reported.
A special Indian Air Force repatriation flight ferrying 168 evacuees from Kabul landed at the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad on Sunday.
"So, there was no infiltration of any Afghani Taliban... To that effect, we have been able to control (things)," he said.
A couple of days before American troops leave Kabul on Tuesday, August 31, images to remember from the Afghan capital and elsewhere...
"I judge by the first day of their control over Kabul. The impressions are good. The situation in Kabul is better now (under Taliban) than it was under Ashraf Ghani," Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov was quoted as saying by Moscow's Ekho Moskvy radio station on Monday.
The US has said it will go ahead with its plan to conclude its Afghanistan mission by August 31, even as the evacuation effort, which is now in its "retrograde period", is facing an "ongoing and acute threat" from ISIS-K.
The United States officials in Afghanistan naively handed the Taliban a 'kill list' to target Afghans who aided American forces in the country, according to a media report.
The Council adopted the resolution proposed by France, the United Kingdom and the United States with 13 Council members voting in favour and Russia and China abstaining.
Despite international condemnation, the Taliban has resumed the flogging and the public execution of criminals following a decree by the hard-liners' supreme leader.
"The Taliban have been cooperative in facilitating the departure of American citizens and lawful permanent residents on charter flights from HKIA. They have shown flexibility, and they have been businesslike and professional in our dealings with them in this effort. This is a positive first step," Emily Horne, Spokesperson of the National Security Council, the White House said.
Initial reports state that one person died and three others have been injured.
The US military efforts in Afghanistan were akin to filling a bucket that had gaping holes, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'US citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately,' the statement said, without further detail, reported The New York Times.
Two Indian aircraft would be permitted to operate from the Kabul airport which is under the control of American security forces, government sources told ANI.
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