He believes the attack will weaken the confidence of the Taliban – VG

On Thursday, another disaster struck the crowd gathered outside Kabul airport hoping to get out of the country after the Taliban took power in the country:

Dozens were confirmed killed after a terrorist attack just outside the airport. The attack came just hours after people were warned to stay away from the area Because of the terrorist threat.

At a Pentagon news conference Thursday evening, US authorities said they believed ISIS was behind the attack.

“There were two suicide bombers believed to be ISIS fighters,” said General Kenneth McKenzie of the US Central Command.

Shortly thereafter, the terrorist group blamed itself as well.

background: Terrorist attack on Kabul airport – dozens dead

Christian Berg Harpviken, a researcher at the Brio Institute for Peace Research, stated early on that there were many indications that the Islamic State was behind the attack.

– There are not many other candidates nearby in the Afghan conflict arena who would have the interest and ability to do something like this, he told VG before the Islamic State took the blame.

– calculated

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemns what he called a “horrific terrorist attack”.

My thoughts go to those affected and their loved ones. He wrote on Twitter Thursday night that our priority is to evacuate as many of them to safety as quickly as possible.

David DeRoch of the National Defense University in Qatar describes the attack on Kabul airport as an extremely immoral and deadly act.

Calculated with a degree of evil that can hardly be comprehended. But we’ve seen that before in the Bataclan attacks in Paris and the attack on the French National Stadium. It’s also not entirely different from what we saw at Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester, says DeRoch, who himself served in Afghanistan, sesame island.

Danger greater than al-Qaeda

International law scholar Cecily Hellstveit is largely convinced that the Islamic State was behind the attack.

– He might be behind it. ISIS in Afghanistan is a greater danger than Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda is in the Taliban fold while ISIS is an enemy of the Taliban.

She emphasized that Kabul airport has been under a major security threat since the evacuation began.

– The Taliban is responsible for the external features of the airport and the Western powers inside it. Cecily Hillstveit says they are killing Afghans, Taliban and Western soldiers with today’s attack, noting that the aforementioned groups are terrorist targets of the Islamic State.

– becomes more demanding

Brio researcher Christian Berg Harpviken told VG that Thursday’s attack is likely to erode the Taliban’s confidence in Afghanistan.

In this way, the Taliban undermines the story that they can ensure law and order, and that this may also be the primary objective of the attack, Harpviken claims.

The Norwegian government said during a press conference Thursday evening that the attack in Kabul means that Norway can no longer help people out of Afghanistan.

Harpviken He told VG that development in the Afghan capital will make evacuation from the country more urgent.

– It was already very difficult, to track and control the crowds that approached the airports, not least to organize transportation, he says.

The US was clear that it wanted to meet the August 31 evacuation deadline, while some European NATO countries wanted the deadline to be extended.

Harpviken believes that the attack increases the importance of determining the end date of the evacuation.

Now you have a good reason to quit before the security problem develops and gets worse, he says.

The reality for those who were not evacuated by the deadline, Harpviken says, is that they must flee “the old fashioned way”.

– They are fleeing from the border lands of Afghanistan’s neighbors. It is not easy, because there are many border control points. Many people get around it with the help of existing smuggling networks.