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US tells citizens to avoid Kabul airport due to ‘security threats’
The United States on Saturday urged its citizens in Afghanistan to avoid traveling to the Kabul airport for now, citing “potential security threats” near its gates.
The warning, posted on the website of the US Embassy in Afghanistan and tweeted by the State Department in Washington, provided no detail on the nature of the threat.
But conditions outside Hamid Karzai International Airport have been chaotic amid the crush of people hoping to flee the Taliban takeover of the country.
As thousands of Americans and Afghans wait in the airport for flights or gather outside its gates, there have been “sporadic” reports, confirmed by the Pentagon, of Taliban fighters beating and harassing people trying to flee.
“Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport, we are advising US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US government representative to do so,” the US embassy alert said.
17,000 evacuated
Underlining the threat that the White House sees in the unfolding chaos — and likely also due to concern over a hurricane approaching the US northeast — President Joe Biden canceled a planned trip home to Delaware Saturday.
Pentagon officials, speaking not long after the warning was issued, declined to offer details of the threat, merely saying they were continuing to process people reaching the airport gates.
“There has been no reported change to the current enemy situation in and around the airport at this time,” Major General Hank Taylor said.
In this image courtesy of the US Central Command Public Affairs, a US Marine assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit calms an infant during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 20, 2021. Isaiah CAMPBELL / US Central Command Public Affairs / AFP
He said 17,000 people had been evacuated since the operation began on August 14, with many flown first to Qatar or Kuwait. The total included 2,500 Americans.
In the past 24 hours, Taylor said, six military C-17 planes and 32 charter flights had departed the Kabul airport, carrying 3,800 people.
Taylor said three flights had already reached Dulles International Airport outside Washington, adding that Afghan citizens were being sent on to the Fort Bliss army base in western Texas for processing.
The United States hopes to evacuate a total of 30,000 Americans and Afghan civilians.
On Friday, the US military sent helicopters to rescue over 150 Americans unable to reach the airport gates, an official said.
That was the first evidence that US forces were willing and able to go beyond the US-secured compound to help people seeking evacuation.
American officials earlier confirmed that evacuation operations from Afghanistan had stalled for about seven hours Friday, because a receiving base in Qatar was overflowing.
Biden has promised to help any American in Afghanistan seeking to evacuate, saying, “Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.”
But he has admitted that the presence of thousands of US soldiers at the airport does not guarantee safe passage to that vast compound.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Oyo South Senatorial District, Hon. Aderemi Oseni, has approved N100 million for the immediate rehabilitation of a major access road linking seven communities in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Oseni, who represents Ibarapa East/Ido Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, announced the intervention on Saturday at a town hall meeting with residents and community leaders from Power Line, Awonsoso, Siba, Olupoyi, Balogun, Baba Agba and Agaloke communities.
The lawmaker said the decision followed a request by the community stakeholders, who identified the poor condition of the road as their most pressing need. He assured the residents that the rehabilitation would be completed within four months.
Oseni said the intervention was part of his commitment to people-centred representation, stressing that his legislative activities had been focused on issues capable of improving the lives of Nigerians.
He said, “Within the three years plus, I have sponsored bills and moved motions that are carefully designed to positively impact the lives and livelihoods of citizens.”
According to him, some of the legislative initiatives include moves to amend the Federal Medical Centres Act to establish a Federal Medical Centre in Ido Local Government Area, stronger sanctions for contractors who fail to execute government projects according to specifications, and measures to improve accountability in the management of public contracts.
Oseni added that he had also advocated subsidised farm machinery for farmers, measures to reduce the cost of cancer treatment, improved food storage through modern silos and processing facilities, as well as urgent action on flooding and recurring building collapses in major cities among several others.
The lawmaker said his engagements with communities across Oyo South should not be viewed solely through the prism of the 2027 elections, despite the commencement of political activities.
“My visit here today is not to solicit for votes, but to listen and find practical ways to attend to the requests and plights of my people,” he said.
Oseni also disclosed that he had facilitated the distribution of 31 transformers across Ido and Ibarapa, with about 80 per cent of the cost funded through his foundation. He added that other interventions had included solar-powered street lights, boreholes, bridges, public toilets, educational support, infrastructure, health care services, youth and women empowerment, and assistance to artisans, traders and markets across the senatorial district.
The APC chieftain further noted that some youths had also received N1 million each as seed capital to start small businesses.
Oseni acknowledged that his primary responsibility as a federal lawmaker was to make laws and provide effective representation, but said the gap created by ineffective governance at the grassroots had made it necessary for him to support communities through interventions.
He urged youths to remain focused and resilient, recounting how he worked as a bus conductor to raise money for his secondary education before becoming an engineer, businessman and legislator.
Earlier, Chief Muibi Adegoke, Baale of Awonsoso, and Chief Azeez Saka, Baale of Elere Apata, commended the lawmaker for what they described as his performance in legislation and community development. They pledged their support for his political aspiration ahead of the 2027 election.
The meeting was attended by traditional rulers, religious leaders, community elders, women and youth leaders from the affected communities.
(c) Mega Icon Magazine
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