Kabul: US warns citizens to ‘leave immediately’; others warn of threat at airport

Kabul: The US Embassy warned Americans to stay away from the Kabul airport and told anyone outside the perimeter to “leave immediately,” citing unnamed security threats.

“US citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately,” a security alert from the US Embassy in Kabul said.“

Because of security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport & to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US govt representative to do so,” the US Embassy said.

The Taliban have bolstered their access and control around the Kabul airport, choking it at the time of a massive evacuation process, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The British and Australian governments issued similar warnings, with Australian officials describing “an ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack.”

The German Embassy has also advised its local citizens not to go to the Kabul airport, warning in an email that the Taliban were conducting increasingly strict controls around the airport.

The Kabul airport is the only access point for the international community to connect with Afghanistan, a land locked nation.