US, UK urge citizens to leave Kabul airport due to terror threat

Western governments have urged their citizens to avoid Kabul airport due to the high risk of terror attacks, stalling evacuation efforts after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

“The British government, like the American and the Australian government, has very credible intelligence of a very imminent lethal attack,” U.K. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told Times Radio Thursday morning. If Afghans fleeing persecution were to come to the airport, “I’m afraid they risk becoming a target,” he said.

In guidance released late Wednesday, the U.K. Foreign Office warned: “Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location.” The advice appears to suggest those wanting to flee head to a land border instead, noting: “Commercial flights are not currently operating. If you can leave Afghanistan safely by other means, you should do so immediately.”

A U.K. government insider told POLITICO’s London Playbook that there are serious and credible risks of an attack on the airport by ISIS-K, the Islamic State group linked to the Khorasan region, as evacuations draw to a close and it becomes harder to maintain order.

According to the i, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace reportedly told MPs on a video-briefing late Wednesday that it was “better and safer” for people who had not already been called for a flight departing Kabul to flee Afghanistan through a third country such as Pakistan, which has the closest border to the Afghan capital. Wallace also reportedly admitted that “not everyone is going to get out.”

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned in an interview that the terror threat at the airport was “a real danger” and not “theoretical.”

Shortly after the U.K. published its advice, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said American citizens waiting at the airport’s gates “should leave immediately.” The State Department said there are still 1,500 American citizens awaiting evacuation. Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne issued similar advice early Thursday, citing “an ongoing and very high threat of a terrorist attack.”

The terror threats are disrupting the final days of Western evacuation efforts at what is currently the only formal port of exit for foreign nationals and Afghans wishing to flee the Taliban. U.S. forces are due to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan by August 31, meaning allies must wrap up their evacuation efforts days before then.

This story has been updated.