the government in kabul. we ve seen the similar attacks with al shabaab and somalia of a blast at a gate and then forces run in to try to enter the area. sam, we ll continue to check in with you. our pentagon correspondent orn lieberman joins us now. any word on how this attack may or may not impact the withdrawal deadline or at least the execution of evacuations from now on? well, that s one of the key questions the president will have to make a decision on with the advice of his mail tear leaders as well as the state department and security officials. does this, and if so how. normally after a attack like this, you would expect more security to go in. normally you re not operating on a timeline when there s 100 hours left. five days until the u.s. is trying to complete the military withdrawal. so although certainly there s an option and they will discuss what might be an option to send in more security, that s one end
the nationalities of the victims. the taliban also says the culprits will be brought to justice. it remains to be seen if they have those capabilities. there s been no claim of responsibilities. a senior official says it points to an isis affiliate. one explosion an apparent suicide attack took place at the abbey gate at the airport. another blast was nearby outside or near a hotel. not clear what that means for the final stage of the evacuation. there have been reports dozens of americans need a military escort still to the airport. through taliban-held territory in kabul and despite warnings of more attacks being possible. the pentagon called the attacks a complex operation. we have our correspondents covering this. sam, let s talk about the two locations that we know about
and so those are going to be the big questions that are facing the president in these moments right now. what he does, what his response is going to be as you were noting earlier. he said if there was any kind of disruption to the operation underway or an attack on u.s. service members, there would be a swift and forceful response by the united states. that was directed at the taliban, but i presume it applies in all situations. but, of course, what happens to those on the ground, and what next steps that the president takes here. those are the options that are on his plate right now as he is monitoring those. i want to check in with our sam kylie in qatar who has been reporting from the airport in kabul. sam, this is terrible, terrible information that we have learned from the pentagon. a number of u.s. service members killed. a number of others wounded and treated right now. talk a little bit about the
no great surprise they would be assigned responsibility. not least because there was detailed intelligence that was emerging last night with the united states, australia and others, warning their citizens to get away from the airport gates, leave the area because there was a danger of an imminent attack. and about 12 hours later, that s just what followed. therefore, reinforcing, the previous intelligence reinforced the pentagon s view this almost certainly was isis-k. this is a disaster obviously for the united states in terms of evacuating their sitcitizens an people with the special immigrant visas who had been tried to stay away from the gate and banned from traveling there anyway by the afghan taliban. sam, let me ask you. within the airport itself with the u.s. forces there, british forces there, what are the medical capabilities that u.s. forces have or british forces have to treat wounded troops?
accelerate the withdrawal now as a result of this attack. i think sadly, these sorts of casualties are going to be built into the military plan itself anyway. sam, there are a number of representatives in congress. i talked to a former congressman mike rogers earlier who talked about the idea of expanding the perimeter around the airport. that seems unlikely at a point like this, because there are blast walls in the perimeter as it is. if you expand the perimeter, you then there s not the same blast walls, and you re obviously then exposing u.s. forces at a whole lot of more points to potential attack. yeah. i think it s inconceivable that you could expand the perimeter. you d have to increase the number of troops to do that. if you push out 100 meters, your