Additional attacks outside Hamid Karzai International Airport could occur at any time, a top U.S. general in charge of Afghanistan said Thursday.
There are “very, very real threat strings” said Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command. The threats are “what we would call tactical, that means imminent, could occur at any moment.”
McKenzie spoke to Pentagon reporters following the devastating attacks that killed 12 American service members and more than 160 Afghans outside the gates of the airport.
In the wake of the attacks, the U.S. contacted the Taliban to “make sure they know what we expect them to do to protect us,” McKenzie said. The attacks likely are the work of ISIS, U.S. officials have said.
Additional threats include rocket attacks and suicide vehicle-borne attacks, he said.
“We know that they would like to lob a rocket in there if they could,” McKenzie said.
Officials are investigating how the attacks on Aug. 26 occurred, he said.
