Biden Warns Of More Attacks As Military Begins Final Pullout

13 American troops and dozens of Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide bomb attack Thursday at Kabul airport.

WASHINGTON (AP) — On alert for more terrorist attacks, the U.S. military has begun its final withdrawal from Afghanistan in the closing stages of a frantic airlift of Americans, Afghans and others desperate to escape Taliban rule before the evacuation shuts down. President Joe Biden said Saturday that commanders told him an attack was “highly likely” over the next 24 to 36 hours. The remains of 13 American troops killed in a suicide bomb attack Thursday by the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate, known as ISIS-K, were on their way to the United States, the Pentagon said. Their voyage marked a painful moment in a nearly 20-year American war that cost more than 2,400 U.S. military lives and is ending with the return to power of a Taliban movement that was ousted when U.S. forces invaded in October 2001. A U.S. drone attack in response to the IS bombing killed two militants, the Pentagon said. “This strike was not the last,” Biden said in a statement after meeting with his national security team and military commanders.