MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st September, 2021) The Taliban (banned in Russia) might have prevented another terror attack on American forces at Kabul airport shortly before the US evacuation ended, media cited a witness as saying.
An American national who traveled to the airport by bus reportedly told NBC that Taliban fighters forced passengers out at a gas station, saying it might be rigged with explosives and have suicide bombers on board. They were allowed to continue the trip after a search.
"Without pulling that bus over, there could have been an attack at the airport that could have killed people, including Americans," a congressional aid familiar with the story was cited as saying.
The United States wrapped up the withdrawal on Monday. NBC cited US defense officials who said that the level of cooperation between the Defense Department and the Taliban in the waning days of US presence was higher than the Pentagon let on.
Taliban militants drove US nationals through checkpoints, cleared streets so that they could pass safely and even carried their luggage to the airport, officials reportedly said.
The US pullout saw 13 American personnel lose their lives in last Thursday's explosion, in which a suicide bomber of the Islamic State-Khorasan terrorist group (banned in Russia) detonated his charge at the airport's Abbey Gate.
