The United States announced Friday that it carried out a drone attack in eastern Afghanistan against a planner of Daesh (ISIS-Khorasan), a day after an attack outside Kabul's airport that killed at least 175 people and 13 US troops.
"The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target," Captain Bill Urban of the US Central Command said adding: "We know of no civilian casualties."
Nangarhar is located to the east of Kabul province, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
The US announcement did not identify the targeted individual but indicated that this could be the first of many reprisals at ISIS-K targets for Thursday's terrorist attacks at the Kabul airport.
According to a Reuters report, a Reaper drone took off from an unnamed base in the Middle East and hit the target while he was in a car with another associate. Both are believed to have been killed.
Thursday's attack was claimed by ISIS offshoot in Afghanistan - the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (also known as ISIS-K).
The announcement of the strike came a day after President Joe Biden vowed to retaliate for a terrorist attack that killed 13 US service members and at least 170 others outside Kabul's international airport even as he said the frantic mission to airlift Americans from Afghanistan would continue.
The speed with which the U.S. military retaliated reflected its close monitoring of IS and years of experience in targeting extremists in remote parts of the world, the Associated Press said adding:
It wasn't clear if the targeted individual was involved directly in the Thursday suicide blast outside the gates of the Kabul airport, where crowds of Afghans were desperately trying to get in as part of the ongoing evacuation.
The Pentagon spokesman John Kirby Kirby was quoted by AP as saying, the U.S. military is monitoring credible, specific Islamic State threats "in real time." "We certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts," Kirby said.
Republican lawmakers speak with anti-Taliban resistance leaders
Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Mike Waltz said Friday that they spoke with Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh and representatives of anti-Taliban resistance fighter Ahmad Massoud, Washington Times reported.
The two Republican lawmakers called on President Biden to recognize the two as "legitimate government representatives of Afghanistan."
Amrullah Saleh proclaimed himself to be the "acting president" of Afghanistan on Aug. 17 after the democratically elected President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the Taliban gained control.
"We ask the Biden Administration to recognize that the Afghan Constitution is still intact, and the Afghan Taliban takeover is illegal," the lawmakers wrote.
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