A Taliban leader stated on Friday that at least 28 members of the group were killed in the Kabul airport attack, which also claimed the lives of dozens, including 13 American soldiers. The unnamed leader told Reuters, "We have lost more people than the Americans." He maintained that there was no need to extend the August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
The Taliban leader also mentioned that the group has set up observation towers around the Kabul airport area following the attack. On Thursday, two suicide bombers from the Islamic State detonated their explosives among a crowd of Afghans trying to enter the Kabul airport to flee the country after the Taliban took control, resulting in numerous casualties.
U.S. President Joe Biden, visibly shocked by the events, vowed to "hunt down" those responsible for the attack and "make them pay" for the deaths of the American "heroes." The attack, claimed by the Islamic State, is the first deadly assault Kabul has experienced since its fall to the Taliban on August 15, and occurred just days before the scheduled completion of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
