State Department Warns of Specific, Credible Threat at Kabul Airport

'US citizens should avoid traveling to the airport and avoid all airport gates at this time'

Taliban forces block the roads leading to the airport at Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 27, 2021. Stringer/Reuters

The U.S. State Department is urging U.S. citizens and others to leave the area of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport immediately, citing a specific, credible threat.

“Due to a specific, credible threat, U.S. citizens near Kabul airport, including South gate, new Ministry of the Interior, and gate near Panjshir Petrol station, should leave the area immediately,” the department posted in a security alert at 5:38 a.m. Kabul local time. “Avoid traveling to the airport at this time.”