Updated Aug 27, 2021 - World

U.S. airstrike targets Islamic State member after Kabul airport attack

Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images

The United States launched a drone strike targeting members of the Islamic State in Afghanistan on Saturday local time in response to Thursday's Kabul airport attack, the Pentagon said.

Driving the news: “U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner,” Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said in a statement.

  • “The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangahar province of Afghanistan,” Captain Urban said. “Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties.”
  • President Biden on Thursday said he has directed the Pentagon to develop plans to "strike" ISIS-K "assets, leadership and facilities" in response to the Kabul airport bombing, which killed as many as 170 people, in addition to 13 U.S. service members.
  • "To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm know this: We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay," Biden said.
Go deeper