By Wednesday night, U.S. intelligence agencies were near certain that an attack was imminent outside Kabul airport, triggering a State Department warning to American citizens to leave the area immediately.
Just over 12 hours later, a suicide bomber walked through the large crowds to a gate manned by U.S. troops and detonated explosives, killing at least 13 U.S. service members and 79 Afghans.
"It was a failure somewhere," General Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, told reporters hours after the attack, which was claimed by Islamic State Khorasan . They told Reuters that weeks before the evacuation from Kabul airport began following the Taliban's takeover of the capital, the military had been seeking approval to get at-risk Afghans out of the country.
In the coming hours, the United States will turn its attention to withdrawing the approximately 5,000 troops at Kabul's airport - and the White House said on Friday the next few days will likely be the most dangerous of the operation. Officials said the withdrawal was particularly challenging because of a mixture of security threats along with a humanitarian crisis taking place outside the airport.
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