The Taliban deployed extra forces around Kabul's airport Saturday to prevent large crowds from gathering after a devastating suicide attack two days earlier, as the massive US-led airlift wound down ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline. New layers of checkpoints sprang up on roads leading to the airport, some manned by uniformed Taliban fighters with Humvees and night-vision goggles captured from Afghan security forces. Areas where large crowds of people have gathered over the past two weeks in hopes of fleeing the country following the Taliban takeover were largely empty. Also on Saturday, Britain began bringing its troops home from Afghanistan, as a Royal Air Force plane carrying soldiers landed at the RAF Brize Norton airbase northwest of London. The troops are part of a contingent of 1,000 that has been based in Kabul to help run the airlift. Flights bringing UK citizens and Afghans have largely ended, though the head of the armed forces, Gen. Nick Carter, said there would be a "very few" more on Saturday. Britain says it has evacuated more than 14,500 people from Kabul in the past two weeks, but that as many as 1,000 Afghans entitled to come to the UK have been left behind. Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised Friday to "shift heaven and earth" to get more people from Afghanistan to Britain by other means, though no concrete details have been offered. A US airstrike killed a member of the Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan in retaliation for a suicide bombing at Kabul airport that killed 13 Americans and scores of Afghans. A US defense official told AP that the drone strike came as a further attack was being planned by the militant group against the airport, where a mass evacuation of refugees is currently under way. President Joe Biden has set a deadline of Tuesday for a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, 20 years after the American-led invasion of the country following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. US Central Command said the drone strike was conducted in Nangahar province against an IS member believed to be involved in planning attacks in Kabul. It is not clear if the individual was involved directly in the suicide bombing outside the gates of Kabul airport on Thursday, as crowds of Afghans desperately tried to join the ongoing evacuation. Meanwhile, Italy's final evacuation flight of refugees from Afghanistan has landed at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport. The Italian Air Force C-130J with 58 Afghan citizens aboard arrived Saturday morning, some 17 hours after it departed from the Kabul airport and after a planned stopover. Also aboard were Italy's consul and a NATO diplomat who had coordinated evacuations at the Kabul airport. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Italy was prepared to work with the United Nations and with countries bordering Afghanistan on what he described as the "more difficult phase." — Euronews
