Former Afghan spies arrested after Kabul airport attack: Taliban

A day after the deadly blasts outside the Kabul airport, former employees of the Afghan intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS), have been arrested for allegedly sabotaging the law and order in the federal capital.

“Former NDS employees detained red handed. Posing as IEA members, they were involved in deteriorating law and order situation in Kabul city,” Afghan Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said in a tweet on Friday.

On Thursday an Islamic State (IS), generally known as Da'ish, suicide bomber killed 85 people, including 13 US soldiers outside the gates of Kabul airport.

Two blasts and gunfire rocked the area outside the airport, witnesses said. Video shot by Afghan journalists showed dozens of bodies strewn around a canal on the edge of the airport.

The militant group, an enemy of the Taliban as well as the West, said one of its suicide bombers targeted "translators and collaborators with the American army".

US officials also blamed the group and vowed retribution.

General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said US commanders are on alert for more attacks by the Da'ish, including possible rockets or vehicle-borne bombs targeting the airport.

Also read: RAW, NDS nexus behind Dasu attack: FM

"We're doing everything we can to be prepared," he said, adding that some intelligence was being shared with the Taliban and that he believed "some attacks have been thwarted by them."

US forces are racing to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan by an Aug 31 deadline set by President Joe Biden, who says the United States had long ago achieved its original rationale for invading the country in 2001: to root out al Qaeda militants and prevent a repeat of the Sept 11 attacks on the United States.

Biden said he had ordered the Pentagon to plan how to strike ISIS-K, the Islamic State affiliate that claimed responsibility.

(With input from Reuters)