2 Suicide bomb attacks at Kabul Airport

This is very sad news.

I’m at a bit of a loss as to know what else to say. Sad, so sad.

According to BBC news reports 60 lives lost in the attack including 12 U.S troops. 160 injured. Biden is going to speak at 10pm.

It’s a dreadful act of savagery.

I bet Biden will try to wriggle out of any responsibility. I have lost all faith in him.

Life for those that remain will be terrible and who will be able to help them? It is a living nightmare.

PippaZ I agree with what you say. There is certainly the potential in any country for this sort of mass psychosis - as seen in the imagined Gilead - I believe in that case based on a literal interpretation of the Old Testament. There is, as you say, a very scary shift towards the far right in many countries now so I am certainly not complacent.

We are certainly not without fault and were, in my opinion, committing an illegal and immoral act in invading Iraq and creating havoc throughout the middle east.

Having said that, what is happening in Afghanistan is truly terrible and seeing the atrocities being committed against civilians for what we would consider to be normal and acceptable behaviour is very frightening.

Biden sounded like a broken man tonight.

Eloethan

I really don't understand what motivates such cruelty. Surely to be in charge of a country should mean seeing its citizens happy, healthy and flourishing? Who in their right mind gets satisfaction from terrorising so many people and who can feel proud of committing such atrocities? It's like a sort of mass psychosis.

It wasn't the Taliban who did this, Eloethan, it has been claimed by ISIS.

Frank Gardner said on the 10pm news that the Taliban may ask for US help to deal with them.

Absolutely horrendous. Such carnage. Desperately sad.

So sad. It really makes you ill. I did expect something like this but not so soon. I just wish they would let all who want to leave to leave and stop interfering with them. Savage stone aged people, a savage stone aged regime. God help those stuck there, we are so helpless and that makes it so much worse.

What about the 12 American soldiers who have given their lives trying their best to evacuate the Afghans? They seem to have been forgotten. Jihadists committed this atrocity not the Taliban.

I don’t think it makes much difference who was responsible for the suicide bomber attack to the families of the US servicemen who were killed yesterday. They died because they were in Afghanistan doing the job that America asked them to do. At the end like this, it really does seem so pointless. Along with the pointless deaths of all the Afghans who were killed.
The situation reminds me of Vietnam in 1975. I wonder if the world will ever learn.

Sadly bombs are a constant threat in Afghanistan. Earlier this year at least 90 people were killed outside a secondary school, mainly pupils aged between 11 and 15. I think that Frank Gardner said last by that there had been 28 so far this year. It's impossible to understand any sort of logical motive.

maddyone sadly the world will never learn.

PBS are running a series of programmes about the Seventies at the moment. Some are about music and some are clips from newscasts. Yesterday and today they covered the Vietnam War - including footage of the Kent State university riot and subsequently people attacking anti war demonstrators. There is also footage of Nixon's resignation and the decision of Congress to stop funding aid to South Vietnam which led to the quick withdrawal of American troops.

Gwyneth

What about the 12 American soldiers who have given their lives trying their best to evacuate the Afghans? They seem to have been forgotten. Jihadists committed this atrocity not the Taliban.

Who has forgotten them? Certainly not Biden and certainly not the Americans.

You are right, Jihadists committed this atrocity.

All of this is down to religion. Toxic.

The Taliban aren’t educated men. They are known as country boys. Unsophisticated, seeing the black and white law of shariah as very convenient, serving the young strong male. They are popular with a lot of Afghanis. Especially men.
I don’t know what women can do, this is brute force using the strength of the masculine and patriarchal rule. Perhaps some women like to be protected by strong men? How small is the percentage of educated women? We don’t really know. Most afghanis live in the mountains in tribes hundreds of miles away from cities. Tribes that defeated the British in the 19 th century trapping them in the passes and slaughtering 165 000. We thought we could just go in and take over then at the height of our empire. All this must be remembered. How the taliban will succeed in a world of social media and connective technology I don’t know.
We just feel hopeless and helpless. Will it help to enable all the educated privileged women to escape? Probably, it is a nightmare for women. And we must never underestimate misogyny or allow women’s rights to be undermined by men whatever creed or belief system. For that we can all fight.

Surely we should have got people out months ago it’s again by the British and American governments too little too late

grannygranby
They know enough about technology to have encrypted phones.
This isn’t the same Taliban as 20 years ago.

And the US is leaving billions of dollars-worth of equipment behind!

I was listening to an Islamic scholar being interviewed the other day. He said so much rubbish is spouted by these fanatics and they don’t know their Koran. He stated that Sharia is a man made concept; it’s nothing to do with Islam. It’s about time the media stopped giving the likes of Choudary etc a platform.

MayBee70

Can someone explain to me how American intelligence knew that a terrorist attack on the airport was imminent but that same intelligence didn’t realise that the Taliban were going to take over the country in a matter of days?

Exactly! This is a monumental cluster-you-know -what from start to finish.best advice evr given about Afghanistan? "Don't go there" quote from Harold Macmillan. An absolute MUST is to watch Rory Stewart's two part documentary about Afghanistan, available on BBC iPlayer, made in 2012 it could have been made last week or in 1790! It explains so very much about the problems created in the country and by whom(which is the real damning element to this sorry tale) as usual the poor civilians are the ones paying th ultimate price of greed and basically d**k waving. And still Biden is carrying it on with this "we will hunt you down" rhetoric, doesn't he know when to just shut up?!? It's that kind of idiocy that starts wars! They never learn.

Thanks Gabrielle, I’ve just found Rory Stewart’s documentary on IPlayer. I’ll watch it later instead of the usual Saturday night rubbish.

Urmstongran - definitely not! Isis K and the Taliban have nothing to choose between them, and I know I will be accused of being a conspiracy theorist here but it wouldn't put the idea of interference past those influential governments of the world who are going to have to come to the negotiating table with the Taliban as a recognised government of Afghanistan. As MayBee70 has pointed out, it's a bit of an ask to accept that intelligence on the ground was able to identify the IsisK attack would materialise, but not able to predict the Taliban's take over - the only explanation for me is that intelligence did know the strength and will of the Taliban and that as soon as the Americans pulled out, this would be exerted but Biden had made the commitment to do so - of course they knew the Taliban was in the ascendency and in order to soften the negative opinion of the rest of the world they allow a situation to occur where a suicide bomber (the type of person that soldiers are well-trained to spot) gets into the airport compound just at the time they predict and commits this horrible crime, which then makes the Taliban look less threatening - It's all disgusting with a capital D - however, what I find equally disgusting is some of the right wing chat already on social media berating the fact that the UK is taking Afghan refugees when we have 'our own' in poverty. Really, society stinks at times.

We just never, ever, learn and innocent people are left to their fate. We all remember Vietnam but there was also Cambodia, we, the french and everyone else just rushed together out and worse of all we knew what was happening after everyone left and we did nothing. Absolutely nothing and also I see that Pen what’s his name got his animals out but not his staff, terrible.

Evil. Despicable actions.