US airstrike targets ISIS-K 'planner' in Afghanistan

Washington: The US military has said that it carried out a drone strike in Afghanistan, killing an Islamic State "planner", a day after President Joe Biden promised to retaliate for the twin blasts at the Kabul airport that killed 169 Afghans and 13 American soldiers.

The Islamic State's Afghanistan affiliate, dubbed Islamic State Khorasan or ISIS-K, had claimed responsibility for the attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday.

"US military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner. The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangahar province of Afghanistan," Capt Bill Urban, spokesperson of US Central Command, said on Friday.

"Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties," Urban added. The airstrike came a day after President Biden vowed to "hunt" down the terrorists and make them "pay" for the Kabul airport attack and ordered his commanders to develop plans to strike back at them.

"To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm notice, we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command," Biden had said in his remarks at the White House on Thursday.

Earlier on Friday, the White House said President Biden does not want the terrorists, who planned the attack at the Kabul airport, to live any longer.

"I think he made it clear yesterday that he does not want them to live on the Earth anymore," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference. However, it wasn't immediately known if the ISIS-K planner was involved specifically in Thursday's Kabul airport attack.

Meanwhile, the national security team of President Biden has told him that another terror attack is "likely" in Kabul and that the next few days of this evacuation mission will be the "most dangerous" period to date, according to a White House official.

This was shared with the President when he met in the Situation Room with his national security team, including top commanders and diplomats in the field. Vice President Kamala Harris also joined by secure video teleconference.

"They advised the President and Vice President that another terror attack in Kabul is likely, but that they are taking maximum force protection measures at the Kabul Airport," the White House official said.

The official said the next few days of an evacuation operation, that has taken more than 100,000 people out of the country in the past two weeks, "will be the most dangerous period to date".