(NEW YORK) — At least 304 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured as a devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti Saturday morning, the country’s civil protection agency confirmed to ABC News.
The earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey, struck about 5 miles north of Petit Trou de Nippes, Haiti, a little over 90 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince.
There are also concerns that the earthquake could exacerbate the island’s COVID-19 infection rate should displaced people be forced into closer confines.
The Haitian government “believes high casualties are probable given the earthquake’s magnitude,” Bocchit Edmond, the country’s ambassador to the U.S., said in a statement Saturday afternoon.
“Emergency responses are underway, and damages are being assessed,” Edmond added, saying destruction is “widespread.”
Haiti, which is divided into 10 departments, said 160 deaths took place in Sud, 42 in Nippes, 100 in Grand’Anse and two in Nord-Ouest, according to the civil protection agency.
The embassy is helping to coordinate response efforts between the U.S. and Haitian governments.
The earthquake was virtually the same size and at the same shallow depth as the 2010 quake, and along the exact same fault line — the Enriquillo Plantain Garden — but farther west and in a less-populated region.
The earthquake struck just days before Tropical Storm Grace is forecast to reach Haiti late Monday night or early Tuesday.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry is mobilizing government resources to help victims in affected areas and declared a one-month state of emergency for the whole country. In a press conference, he said he wouldn’t ask for international help until officials assess the extent of the damages.
Initial reports from those in Port-au-Prince said the city seemed to be “fine” and that the airport remained operational.
“It will be very bad, but maybe not quite as bad as 2010 just because Port-au-Prince is farther away from this one and therefore got less shaking this time,” said Dr. Lucy Jones, an earthquake expert.
She said that about 650,000 people have been exposed to level VII shaking, which the USGS defines as “very strong” and which is powerful enough to topple poorly built structures.
But many of the buildings that potentially would have been at risk from this quake were destroyed by the earthquake 11 years ago or by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, meaning fewer reports of extensive damage now aren’t entirely surprising, Jones added.
Groups like Community Organized Relief Effort are trying to help vaccinate locals to prevent COVID-19 spread.
The U.S. Agency for International Development said the organization’s disaster experts already on the ground in Haiti are assessing damage and humanitarian needs.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and the Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the earthquake Saturday morning. The president authorized an immediate U.S. response, and named USAID Administrator Samantha Power as the senior U.S. official to coordinate this effort.
“In what is already a challenging time for the people of Haiti, I am saddened by the devastating earthquake that occurred in Saint-Louis du Sud, Haiti this morning,” Biden said in a statement. “We send our deepest condolences to all those who lost a loved one or saw their homes and businesses destroyed.”
“Through USAID, we are supporting efforts to assess the damage and assist efforts to recover those who were injured and those who must now rebuild,” he continued. “The United States remains a close and enduring friend to the people of Haiti, and we will be there in the aftermath of this tragedy.”
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway, Justin Doom, Justin Gomez and Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — On the heels of an address to the nation by Afghanistan’s president, Taliban forces gained major ground Saturday while they advance toward the capital of Kabul.
As the latest cities fall, President Joe Biden announced he would be sending more troops to Kabul to facilitate the “orderly and safe drawdown” of U.S. personnel, allied forces and Afghan civilians who helped with the war effort. Instead of heading to Kuwait as previously planned, 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne will head directly to Kabul, the president said in a lengthy statement Saturday afternoon.
In a televised national address Saturday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani rejected suggestions he might resign in his first appearance since the rapid offensive, saying his focus is to “prevent further instability, violence and displacement of our people.”
“Therefore, I have started extensive consultations inside the government, with the elders and political leaders, representatives of people from all walks of life and our international partners,” he said. “Swift consultations in this regard are going on and the results will soon be shared with you, my dear compatriots.”
The Taliban have demanded that Ghani resign in exchange for a reduction in violence and to lay the groundwork for a transitional government. But Ghani has said he is the democratically elected leader of the country and will remain so until negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan government reach a conclusion — an increasingly distant reality.
US troops deployed to reduce embassy staff
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said Friday it would begin reducing its staff levels at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the Pentagon was sending in troops “as we speak” to help facilitate those departures.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby wouldn’t say the Taliban’s advances took the Biden administration by surprise but said officials are “certainly concerned” by the speed at which the Taliban is moving.
“We’re obviously watching this just like you’re watching this and seeing it happen in real-time, and it’s deeply concerning. In fact, the deteriorating conditions are a factor — a big factor — in why the president has approved this mission to help support our — the reduction of personnel there in Kabul,” he said in a briefing from the Pentagon Friday afternoon.
Kirby said the “leading elements” of one of the two Marine battalions headed to Kabul had arrived and that “the bulk” of the 3,000 troops would be there by the end of the weekend.
The Taliban pressuring major Afghan cities was a significant factor in the decision to go forward with the reduction in embassy staffing and the new military mission, a U.S. official told ABC News.
A military analysis said Kabul could be isolated in 30 to 60 days and captured in 90 days, a U.S. official told ABC News. That timeline seemed even more accelerated Thursday as the Taliban claimed Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city. As of Friday, the Taliban had taken control of Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city, located 300 miles south of Kabul and considered the birthplace of the Taliban. The Taliban had also seized Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has urged Americans to evacuate Afghanistan immediately, amid fears that the capital could fall into Taliban hands in a matter of weeks.
“Clearly from their actions, it appears as if they are trying to get Kabul isolated,” Kirby said of the Taliban at the Pentagon Friday afternoon.
In a security alert issued Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul announced it is considering evacuation flights for American citizens in Afghanistan as the Taliban approach the capital.
Commercial flights are still operating, “but seats may not be available,” the alert said, and advised U.S. citizens to register with the embassy for repatriation flights for themselves and any non-citizen spouses or children under the age of 21.
Afghans who have U.S. citizen children, but are not citizens themselves, may be forced to choose to send their children off without them: “If you do not have appropriate travel documentation [like a valid U.S. visa], please identify an individual who currently has valid travel documentation who could accompany your U.S. citizen minor,” the alert said.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the embassy in Kabul will remain open as it reduces its civilian footprint due to the “evolving security situation.” He added that the embassy expects to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
“What this is not — this is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation. This is not the wholesale withdrawal,” Price said Thursday. “What this is, is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint. This is a drawdown of civilian Americans who will, in many cases, be able to perform their important functions elsewhere, whether that’s in the United States or elsewhere in the region.”
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has instructed all U.S. personnel to destroy items like documents and electronic devices to “reduce the amount of sensitive material on the property,” according to an internal notice obtained by ABC News.
“Please also include items with embassy or agency logos, Americans flags, or items which could be misused in propaganda efforts,” the notice said.
A State Department spokesperson did not deny this was the case, but in a statement described it as “standard operating procedure designed to minimize our footprint.”
In addition to the U.S. troops heading to Kabul, 1,000 personnel were being sent to assist with the processing of Afghans who worked as interpreters, guides and other contractors and applied for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV).
“I want to stress that these forces are being deployed to support the orderly and safe reduction of civilian personnel at the request of the State Department and to help facilitate an accelerated process of working through SIV applicants,” Kirby said Thursday.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by the national security team by video conference Saturday morning regarding the evacuation of Americans and SIV applicants from Afghanistan, according to the White House.
In a statement Saturday afternoon, Biden said the White House has conveyed to the Taliban that “any action on their part on the ground in Afghanistan, that puts U.S. personnel or our mission at risk there, will be met with a swift and strong U.S. military response.”
The president’s statement said that in addition to authorizing 5,000 troops to assist with the “drawdown” of U.S. and allied personnel and the “evacuation” of certain Afghans, he had ordered armed forces and intelligence “to ensure that we will maintain the capability and the vigilance to address future terrorist threats from Afghanistan,” directed Secretary of State Antony Blinken to support “Ghani and other Afghan leaders as they seek to prevent further bloodshed and pursue a political settlement” and placed Ambassador Tracey Jacobson in charge of the effort to “transport, and relocate Afghan special immigrant visa applicants and other Afghan allies.”
Among the 5,000 troops cited by Biden are 1,000 soldiers from 82nd Airborne initially intended to go to Kuwait, a defense official told ABC News. The remaining brigade of 2,500 soldiers will still head to Kuwait to preposition in case they are needed.
There are also 1,000 troops already in Kabul, the official said, including the 650 protecting the airport and the embassy.
Kirby called it a “very temporary mission for a very temporary purpose,” and said the DOD expects to keep no more than 1,000 troops in Kabul to protect the airport and embassy after the Aug. 31 deadline — up from the 650 troops originally set to remain.
Price said officials will continue to relocate qualified Afghans who assisted the American mission, such as interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government, and flights will ramp up in the coming days.
“Our hearts go out to the brave Afghan men and women who are now at risk. We are working to evacuate thousands of those who helped our cause and their families,” Biden said in his statement Saturday, noting that the administration to working to relocate SIV applicants and “other Afghan allies.”
The United Kingdom is also sending military personnel — about 600 paratroopers — to Kabul on a short-term basis to provide support to British nationals leaving the country, according to a joint press release from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The number of staffers working at the British Embassy in Kabul has been reduced to a core team focused on providing consular and visa services for those needing to rapidly leave the country.
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Friday he believed the country was “heading towards a civil war” as the Taliban gain momentum.
Other nations were working to reduce their embassy staff, including Germany and Spain. The Danish Embassy in Kabul will be closing, and Italy’s defense minister said Friday evening that the country was reviewing embassy security in the capital.
‘Immense’ human toll
Amid the Taliban’s advance, tens of thousands of Afghans have fled their homes to avoid living under the insurgents’ rule.
Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, a senior fellow for the Middle East Institute, Afghanistan war veteran and ABC News national security analyst, called on the U.S. to reverse its decision to withdraw troops in order to “prevent the country’s fall to the Taliban and the establishment of a safe haven for terrorist organizations.”
“In the absence of that, the international community must immediately establish a secure, fortified area within the Kabul region where Afghans, especially females, fleeing the Taliban can have their own safe haven,” he said Friday.
“This should also come with a clear warning to the Taliban that if they enter the Kabul region, they will be met by military force from the United States,” he added. “This is the only thing they will understand and likely the only thing that will stop them from an assault on Kabul that will cause a major humanitarian crisis.”
Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, warned Friday at a press conference in Geneva that a worsening humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Afghanistan.
“The human toll of spiraling hostilities is immense. The United Nations Assistance Mission has warned that without a significant de-escalation in violence, Afghanistan is on course to witness the highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since the UN’s records began,” she said.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a cease-fire in remarks on Friday.
“The message from the international community to those on the warpath must be clear: seizing power through military force is a losing proposition,” he said. “That can only lead to prolonged civil war or to the complete isolation of Afghanistan.”
According to the U.N., some 400,000 civilians have been forced to flee from their homes since the start of the year, joining 2.9 million Afghans already internally displaced across the country at the end of last year, she said.
ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Justin Gomez and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — At least 227 people were killed and more than 1,500 injured in the devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake that rocked Haiti Saturday morning, the country’s civil protection agency confirmed to ABC News.
The earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey, struck about 5 miles north of Petit Trou de Nippes, Haiti, a little over 90 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince.
There are also concerns that the earthquake could exacerbate the island’s COVID-19 infection rate should displaced people be forced into closer confines.
The Haitian government “believes high casualties are probable given the earthquake’s magnitude,” Bocchit Edmond, the country’s ambassador to the U.S., said in a statement Saturday afternoon.
“Emergency responses are underway, and damages are being assessed,” Edmond added, saying destruction is “widespread.”
The embassy is helping to coordinate response efforts between the U.S. and Haitian governments.
The earthquake was virtually the same size and at the same shallow depth as the 2010 quake, and along the exact same fault line — the Enriquillo Plantain Garden — but farther west and in a less-populated region.
The earthquake struck just days before Tropical Storm Grace is forecast to reach Haiti late Monday night or early Tuesday.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry is mobilizing government resources to help victims in affected areas and declared a one-month state of emergency for the whole country. In a press conference, he said he wouldn’t ask for international help until officials assess the extent of the damages.
Initial reports from those in Port-au-Prince said the city seemed to be “fine” and that the airport remained operational.
“It will be very bad, but maybe not quite as bad as 2010 just because Port-au-Prince is farther away from this one and therefore got less shaking this time,” said Dr. Lucy Jones, an earthquake expert.
She said that about 650,000 people have been exposed to level VII shaking, which the USGS defines as “very strong” and which is powerful enough to topple poorly built structures.
But many of the buildings that potentially would have been at risk from this quake were destroyed by the earthquake 11 years ago or by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, meaning fewer reports of extensive damage now aren’t entirely surprising, Jones added.
Groups like Community Organized Relief Effort are trying to help vaccinate locals to prevent COVID-19 spread.
The U.S. Agency for International Development said the organization’s disaster experts already on the ground in Haiti are assessing damage and humanitarian needs.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and the Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the earthquake Saturday morning. The president authorized an immediate U.S. response, and named USAID Administrator Samantha Power as the senior U.S. official to coordinate this effort.
“In what is already a challenging time for the people of Haiti, I am saddened by the devastating earthquake that occurred in Saint-Louis du Sud, Haiti this morning,” Biden said in a statement. “We send our deepest condolences to all those who lost a loved one or saw their homes and businesses destroyed.”
“Through USAID, we are supporting efforts to assess the damage and assist efforts to recover those who were injured and those who must now rebuild,” he continued. “The United States remains a close and enduring friend to the people of Haiti, and we will be there in the aftermath of this tragedy.”
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway, Justin Doom, Justin Gomez and Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — At least 29 people were killed in the devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake that rocked Haiti Saturday morning, which could exacerbate the island’s COVID-19 infection rate should displaced people be forced into closer confines.
The earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey, struck about 5 miles north of Petit Trou de Nippes, Haiti, a little over 90 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Jerry Chandler, Haiti’s director of civil protection, said the death toll stood at 29 and that teams will be sent to the area for search and rescue missions, The Associated Press reported.
The earthquake was virtually the same size and at the same shallow depth as the 2010 quake, and along the exact same fault line — the Enriquillo Plantain Garden — but farther west and in a less populated region.
The earthquake struck just days before Tropical Storm Grace is forecast to reach Haiti late Monday night or early Tuesday.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry is mobilizing government resources to help victims in affected areas and declared a one-month state of emergency for the whole country. In a press conference, he said he wouldn’t ask for international help until officials assess the extent of the damages.
Initial reports from those in Port-au-Prince said the city seemed to be “fine” and that the airport remained operational.
“It will be very bad, but maybe not quite as bad as 2010 just because Port-au-Prince is farther away from this one and therefore got less shaking this time,” said Dr. Lucy Jones, an earthquake expert.
She said that about 650,000 people have been exposed to level VII shaking, which the USGS defines as “very strong” and which is powerful enough to topple poorly built structures.
But many of the buildings that potentially would have been at risk from this quake were destroyed by the earthquake 11 years ago or by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, meaning fewer reports of extensive damage now aren’t entirely surprising, Jones added.
Groups like Community Organized Relief Effort are trying to help vaccinate locals to prevent COVID-19 spread.
The U.S. Agency for International Development said the organization’s disaster experts already on the ground in Haiti are assessing damage and humanitarian needs.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and the Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the earthquake this morning . The president authorized an immediate U.S. response, and named USAID Administrator Samantha Power as the senior U.S. official to coordinate this effort.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway, Justin Doom, Justin Gomez and Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Taliban forces advanced closer to Kabul Saturday, as President Ashraf Ghani rejected suggestions he might resign in his first appearance since the rapid offensive.
The Taliban captured all of Logar province, just south of the Afghanistan capital, the Associated Press reported Saturday, where they have detained Logar officials and reached the Char Asyab district, just seven miles south of Kabul. They now control 19 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, according to the AP.
In a televised national address Saturday, Ghani said his focus is to “prevent further instability, violence and displacement of our people.”
“Therefore, I have started extensive consultations inside the government, with the elders and political leaders, representatives of people from all walks of life and our international partners,” he said. “Swift consultations in this regard are going on and the results will soon be shared with you, my dear compatriots.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said Friday it would begin reducing its staff levels at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the Pentagon was sending in troops “as we speak” to help facilitate those departures.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby wouldn’t say the Taliban’s advances took the Biden administration by surprise but said officials are “certainly concerned” by the speed at which the Taliban is moving.
“We’re obviously watching this just like you’re watching this and seeing it happen in real-time, and it’s deeply concerning. In fact, the deteriorating conditions are a factor — a big factor — in why the president has approved this mission to help support our — the reduction of personnel there in Kabul,” he said in a briefing from the Pentagon Friday afternoon.
Kirby said the “leading elements” of one of the two Marine battalions headed to the capital city of Kabul had arrived and that “the bulk” of the 3,000 troops would be there by the end of the weekend.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has instructed all U.S. personnel to destroy items like documents and electronic devices to “reduce the amount of sensitive material on the property,” according to an internal notice obtained by ABC News.
“Please also include items with embassy or agency logos, Americans flags, or items which could be misused in propaganda efforts,” the notice said.
A State Department spokesperson is not denying this is the case, but in a statement described it as “standard operating procedure designed to minimize our footprint.”
There wasn’t any specific event that led President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to execute the plan to send troops, Kirby said Thursday afternoon as the crisis escalated, but rather the overall worsening trend in Afghanistan.
“There wasn’t one precipitating event in the last couple of days that led the president and the secretary to make this decision. It’s a confluence of events, and as I’ve been saying for now for several weeks, we have been watching very closely with concern the security situation on the ground — and far better to be prudent about it and be responsible and watching the trends to make the best decisions you can for safety and security of our people than to wait until it’s too late,” Kirby said.
The events in Afghanistan over the last 48 hours, with the Taliban pressuring major Afghan cities, were significant factors in the decision to go forward with the reduction in embassy staffing and the new military mission, a U.S. official told ABC News.
A military analysis said Kabul could be isolated in 30 to 60 days and captured in 90 days, a U.S. official told ABC News. That timeline seemed even more accelerated Thursday as the Taliban claimed Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city. As of Friday, the Taliban had taken control of Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city, located 300 miles south of Kabul and considered the birthplace of the Taliban. The Taliban had also seized Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has urged Americans to evacuate Afghanistan immediately, amid fears that the capital could fall into Taliban hands in a matter of weeks.
“Clearly from their actions, it appears as if they are trying to get Kabul isolated,” Kirby said of the Taliban at the Pentagon Friday afternoon.
As the Taliban gained ground Friday, Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, a senior fellow for the Middle East Institute, Afghanistan war veteran and ABC News national security analyst, called on the U.S. to reverse its decision to withdraw troops in order to “prevent the country’s fall to the Taliban and the establishment of a safe haven for terrorist organizations.”
“In the absence of that, the international community must immediately establish a secure, fortified area within the Kabul region where Afghans, especially females, fleeing the Taliban can have their own safe haven,” he said.
“This should also come with a clear warning to the Taliban that if they enter the Kabul region, they will be met by military force from the United States,” he added. “This is the only thing they will understand and likely the only thing that will stop them from an assault on Kabul that will cause a major humanitarian crisis.”
Biden held a meeting with his team Wednesday night and tasked them to come up with recommendations, according to a senior administration official. Then, at a meeting Thursday morning with Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the recommendations were presented to Biden and he gave the order to move forward.
The official also said the president separately spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday morning to discuss a diplomatic strategy and that Biden continued to be engaged on this issue and was staying in close contact with his team on the situation.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the embassy in Kabul will remain open as it reduces its civilian footprint due to the “evolving security situation.” He added that the embassy expects to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
“What this is not — this is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation. This is not the wholesale withdrawal,” Price said Thursday. “What this is, is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint. This is a drawdown of civilian Americans who will, in many cases, be able to perform their important functions elsewhere, whether that’s in the United States or elsewhere in the region.”
The United Kingdom is also sending military personnel — about 600 paratroopers — to Kabul on a short-term basis to provide support to British nationals leaving the country, according to a joint press release from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The number of staffers working at the British Embassy in Kabul has been reduced to a core team focused on providing consular and visa services for those needing to rapidly leave the country.
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Friday he believed the country was “heading towards a civil war” as the Taliban gain momentum.
At the Pentagon, Kirby announced Thursday the Defense Department was sending 3,000 troops from three infantry battalions — two Marine and one Army — to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport to help out with the removal of American personnel from the U.S. Embassy. These numbers are on top of the 650 who were already in Kabul protecting the airport and the embassy.
An additional 1,000 personnel were being sent to assist with the processing of Afghans who worked as interpreters, guides and other contractors and applied for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV).
“I want to stress that these forces are being deployed to support the orderly and safe reduction of civilian personnel at the request of the State Department and to help facilitate an accelerated process of working through SIV applicants,” Kirby said.
A brigade of 3,000 to 3,500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne will also be sent to Kuwait to preposition in case they are needed.
Kirby called it a “very temporary mission for a very temporary purpose,” and said the DOD expects to keep no more than 1,000 troops in Kabul to protect the airport and embassy after the Aug. 31 deadline — a number that has notably crept up from the 650 troops originally set to remain.
Price said officials will continue to relocate qualified Afghans who assisted the American mission, such as interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government, and flights will ramp up in the coming days.
Blinken and Austin spoke to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani earlier Thursday to brief him on the U.S. plans, but the two U.S. officials did not tell Ghani to resign, according to a State Department spokesperson, who added, “Rumors indicating we have done so are completely false. Decisions about who leads the country are for Afghans to make.”
The Taliban have demanded that Ghani resign, in exchange for a reduction in violence and to lay the groundwork for a transitional government. But Ghani has said he is the democratically elected leader of the country and will remain so until negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan government reach a conclusion — an increasingly distant reality.
Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, warned Friday at a press conference in Geneva that a worsening humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Afghanistan.
“The human toll of spiraling hostilities is immense. The United Nations Assistance Mission has warned that without a significant de-escalation in violence, Afghanistan is on course to witness the highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since the UN’s records began,” she said.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a cease-fire in remarks on Friday.
“The message from the international community to those on the warpath must be clear: seizing power through military force is a losing proposition,” he said. “That can only lead to prolonged civil war or to the complete isolation of Afghanistan.”
“I call on the Taliban to immediately halt the offensive and to negotiate in good faith in the interest of Afghanistan and its people,” Guterres continued.
According to the U.N., some 400,000 civilians have been forced to flee from their homes since the start of the year, joining 2.9 million Afghans already internally displaced across the country at the end of last year, she said.
ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Justin Gomez, Guy Davies and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti Saturday morning, the United States Geological Survey reported, which could exacerbate the island’s COVID-19 infection rate should displaced people be forced into closer confines.
The earthquake, according to the USGS, struck about 5 miles north of Petit Trou de Nippes, Haiti, a little over 90 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The earthquake was virtually the same size and at the same shallow depth as the 2010 quake, and along the exact same fault line — the Enriquillo Plantain Garden — but farther west and in a less populated region.
Initial reports from those in Port-au-Prince said the city seemed to be “fine” and that the airport remained operational.
“It will be very bad, but maybe not quite as bad as 2010 just because Port-au-Prince is farther away from this one and therefore got less shaking this time,” said Dr. Lucy Jones, an earthquake expert.
She said that about 650,000 people have been exposed to level VII shaking, which the USGS defines as “very strong” and which is powerful enough to topple poorly built structures.
But many of the buildings that potentially would have been at risk from this quake were destroyed by the earthquake 11 years ago or by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, meaning fewer reports of extensive damage now aren’t entirely surprising, Jones added.
Groups like Community Organized Relief Effort are trying to help vaccinate locals to prevent COVID-19 spread.
The U.S. Agency for International Development said the organization’s disaster experts already on the ground in Haiti are assessing damage and humanitarian needs.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway, Justin Doom and Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
(MIAMI BEACH, Fla.) — Tropical Depression Fred may restrengthen to a tropical storm Friday as it closes in on Florida.
The biggest threat from Fred is flash flooding, especially in South Florida, where up to 10 inches of rain is possible. A flood watch has been issued across South Florida, including Miami.
Fred will move over the Florida Keys early Saturday morning and then graze Tampa on Sunday morning with some rain and gusty winds. Fred is expected to make landfall as a weak tropical storm near Apalachicola in the Florida panhandle Sunday night into Monday early morning.
Meanwhile, another tropical threat developing in the Atlantic is expected to become Tropical Storm Grace by Saturday morning. A tropical storm watch has been issued for portions of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean.
Grace is expected to remain a tropical storm as it passes over Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
By the middle of next week, Grace will approach the Bahamas and South Florida. The storm will likely be weak at that point but the forecast could change.
Some long-range models track the storm heading to the Carolinas, but it is too early to tell.
(WASHINGTON) — As the situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate and criticism mounts over the Biden administration’s handling of the U.S. troop withdrawal from the country after the 20-year war, President Joe Biden has kept a low profile.
Spending the day in Wilmington, Delaware, before departing for Camp David, a presidential retreat, Biden has no public events on his schedule as he resumes what was supposed to be a week of vacation and the president did not stop to speak with reporters as he and first lady Jill Biden departed Wilmington Friday afternoon.
Biden was scheduled to receive his presidential daily briefing at 10 a.m. Friday, though the White House did not say if Biden had received additional briefings on Afghanistan Thursday evening or Friday.
A senior administration official said Biden would continue to be engaged on the issue and stay in close contact with his team about the situation Thursday afternoon.
In the hours surrounding the U.S.’s decision Thursday to send 3,000 troops into Afghanistan to assist the drawdown of the embassy in Kabul, Biden did not engage publicly on the issue.
Delivering remarks about his plan to lower prescription drug prices Thursday — his only public event before departing for Delaware — the president ignored a shouted question from the press as he left the East Room.
“Is Afghanistan lost?” someone had yelled.
Behind the scenes, Biden was briefed by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on the worsening situation in Afghanistan Thursday morning. It followed a meeting Biden held with principals Wednesday night, tasking them to come up with recommendations for next moves, according to a senior administration official.
After they met Thursday morning to review the recommendations, Biden gave the order to move forward with the new plans. The president separately spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday to discuss a diplomatic strategy, the official added.
The administration is on defense over its handling of the situation, saying it was not caught off guard or surprised at the speed of the Taliban’s advancement, arguing that there were a number of contingencies in play.
But according to a U.S. official, the precarious Afghan control over major cities growing more tenuous over the last day was a significant factor in Biden’s decision to go forward with the reduction in staffing and the new military mission.
And just over a month ago, the president doubted the country would fall to Taliban control.
“The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely,” he told reporters on July 8.
The conditions for total withdrawal from Afghanistan were initially put in place by President Donald Trump. In February 2020, the Trump administration struck a deal with the Taliban under which the U.S. would pull out all of its troops from Afghanistan by May 1 if the Taliban met certain requirements, including refraining from attacks on U.S. forces.
In April, Biden announced his intention to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks because it was “time to end America’s longest war.”
“We will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit. We’ll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely,” Biden said of the plan.
But in the months since that announcement, the U.S. has struggled to follow through on that promise. U.S. forces departed Bagram Air Field, its de facto headquarters in Afghanistan, in the middle of the night, without notifying Afghan commanders, Afghan military officials said.
The White House did not announce a plan to evacuate Afghan interpreters and contractors who have aided U.S. forces and diplomats, and who are now targets of the Taliban for their work, until July. While some flights for these Afghans to the U.S. have begun, thousands remain stranded in Afghanistan.
“Please send my word to the officials, if they don’t evacuate us there will be a slaughter. I have no idea what to do. I need help to leave this country or I will be dead, I need evacuation. I need help!” one Afghan interpreter wrote in a note shared with ABC News.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has requested a full House briefing on Afghanistan when the House returns to session Aug. 23, and congressional Republicans issued a swift rebuke of Biden.
“President Biden’s strategy has turned an imperfect but stable situation into a major embarrassment and a global emergency in a matter of weeks. President Biden is finding that the quickest way to end a war is to lose it. The costs and ramifications will echo across the world,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Thursday night.
“America’s enemies know that the slogan ‘ending endless war’ actually means unconditional surrender. That is what we are seeing in Afghanistan today. American weakness is dangerously provocative,” GOP Rep. Liz Cheney tweeted.
Still, even as reports of the deteriorating situation in the region emerged this week, Biden stood by his decision to withdraw all troops.
“Look, we spent over a trillion dollars — over 20 years we trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces. And Afghan leaders have to come together. We lost thousands — lost to death and injury thousands of American personnel. They’ve got to fight for themselves. Fight for their nation.”
“[W]e are continuing to keep our commitment. But I do not regret my decision,” he added.
ABC’s Luis Martinez, Matt Seyler and Conor Finnegan contributed to this report
(WASHINGTON) — The State Department will begin reducing its staff levels at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the Pentagon is sending in troops “as we speak” to help facilitate those departures, the agency said Friday, as Taliban forces advance on more provincial capitals.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby wouldn’t say the advances took the Biden administration by surprise but said officials are “certainly concerned” by the speed at which the Taliban is moving.
“We’re obviously watching this just like you’re watching this and seeing it happen in real-time, and it’s deeply concerning. In fact, the deteriorating conditions are a factor — a big factor — in why the president has approved this mission to help support our — the reduction of personnel there in Kabul,” he said in a briefing from the Pentagon Friday afternoon.
Kirby said the “leading elements” of one of the two Marine battalions headed to the capital city of Kabul have arrived and that “the bulk” of the 3,000 troops will be there by the end of the weekend.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has instructed all U.S. personnel to destroy items like documents and electronic devices to “reduce the amount of sensitive material on the property,” according to an internal notice obtained by ABC News.
“Please also include items with embassy or agency logos, Americans flags, or items which could be misused in propaganda efforts,” the notice said.
A State Department spokesperson is not denying this is the case, but in a statement described things as “standard operating procedure designed to minimize our footprint.”
There wasn’t any specific event that led President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to execute the plan to send troops, Kirby said Thursday afternoon as the crisis escalated, but rather the overall worsening trend in Afghanistan.
“There wasn’t one precipitating event in the last couple of days that led the president and the secretary to make this decision. It’s a confluence of events, and as I’ve been saying for now for several weeks, we have been watching very closely with concern the security situation on the ground — and far better to be prudent about it and be responsible and watching the trends to make the best decisions you can for safety and security of our people than to wait until it’s too late,” Kirby said.
The events in Afghanistan over the last 48 hours, with the Taliban pressuring major Afghan cities, were significant factors in the decision to go forward with the reduction in embassy staffing and the new military mission, a U.S. official told ABC News.
A military analysis said Kabul could be isolated in 30 to 60 days and be captured in 90 days, a U.S. official told ABC News. That timeline seemed even more accelerated Thursday as the Taliban claimed Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city. As of Friday, the Taliban had taken control of Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city, located 300 miles south of Kabul and considered the birthplace of the Taliban. The Taliban has also seized Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has urged Americans to evacuate Afghanistan immediately, amid fears that the capital could fall into Taliban hands in a matter of weeks.
“Clearly from their actions, it appears as if they are trying to get Kabul isolated,” Kirby said of the Taliban at the Pentagon Friday afternoon.
As the Taliban gained ground Friday, Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, a senior fellow for the Middle East Institute, Afghanistan war veteran and ABC News national security analyst, called on the U.S. to reverse its decision to withdraw troops in order to “prevent the country’s fall to the Taliban and the establishment of a safe haven for terrorist organizations.”
“In the absence of that, the international community must immediately establish a secure, fortified area within the Kabul region where Afghans, especially females, fleeing the Taliban can have their own safe haven,” he said.
“This should also come with a clear warning to the Taliban that if they enter the Kabul region, they will be met by military force from the United States,” he added. “This is the only thing they will understand and likely the only thing that will stop them from an assault on Kabul that will cause a major humanitarian crisis.”
Biden held a meeting with his team Wednesday night and tasked them to come up with recommendations, according to a senior administration official. Then, at a meeting Thursday morning with Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, the recommendations were presented to Biden and he gave the order to move forward.
The official also said the president separately spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken Thursday morning to discuss a diplomatic strategy and that Biden continues to be engaged on this issue and is staying in close contact with his team on the situation.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the embassy in Kabul will remain open as it reduces its civilian footprint due to the “evolving security situation.” He added that the embassy expects to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
“What this is not — this is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation. This is not the wholesale withdrawal,” Price said Thursday. “What this is, is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint. This is a drawdown of civilian Americans who will, in many cases, be able to perform their important functions elsewhere, whether that’s in the United States or elsewhere in the region.”
The United Kingdom is also sending military personnel — about 600 paratroopers — to Kabul on a short-term basis to provide support to British nationals leaving the country, according to a joint press release from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The number of staffers working at the British Embassy in Kabul has been reduced to a core team focused on providing consular and visa services for those needing to rapidly leave the country.
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Friday he believed the country was “heading towards a civil war” as the Taliban gain momentum.
At the Pentagon, Kirby announced Thursday the Defense Department was sending 3,000 troops from three infantry battalions — two Marine and one Army — to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport to help out with the removal of American personnel from the U.S. Embassy. These numbers are on top of the 650 who were already in Kabul protecting the airport and the embassy.
An additional 1,000 personnel will be sent to assist with the processing of Afghans who worked as interpreters, guides and other contractors and applied for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV).
“I want to stress that these forces are being deployed to support the orderly and safe reduction of civilian personnel at the request of the State Department and to help facilitate an accelerated process of working through SIV applicants,” Kirby said. “This is a temporary mission with a narrow focus. As with all deployments of our troops into harm’s way, our commanders have the inherent right of self defense, and any attack on them can and will be met with a forceful and appropriate response.”
A brigade of 3,000 to 3,500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne will also be sent to Kuwait to preposition in case they are needed.
Kirby called it a “very temporary mission for a very temporary purpose,” and said the DOD expects to keep no more than 1,000 troops in Kabul to protect the airport and embassy after the Aug. 31 deadline — a number that has notably crept up from the 650 troops originally set to remain.
Price said officials will continue to relocate qualified Afghans who assisted the American mission, such as interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government, and flights will ramp up in the coming days.
Blinken and Austin spoke to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani earlier Thursday to brief him on the U.S. plans, but the two U.S. officials did not tell Ghani to resign, according to a State Department spokesperson, who added, “Rumors indicating we have done so are completely false. Decisions about who leads the country are for Afghans to make.”
The Taliban have demanded that Ghani resign, in exchange for a reduction in violence and to lay the groundwork for a transitional government. But Ghani has said he is the democratically elected leader of the country and will remain so until negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan government reach a conclusion — an increasingly distant reality.
Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, warned Friday at a press conference in Geneva that a worsening humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Afghanistan.
“The human toll of spiraling hostilities is immense. The United Nations Assistance Mission has warned that without a significant de-escalation in violence, Afghanistan is on course to witness the highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since the UN’s records began,” she said.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a cease-fire in remarks on Friday.
“The message from the international community to those on the warpath must be clear: seizing power through military force is a losing proposition,” he said. “That can only lead to prolonged civil war or to the complete isolation of Afghanistan.”
“I call on the Taliban to immediately halt the offensive and to negotiate in good faith in the interest of Afghanistan and its people,” Guterres continued.
According to the U.N., some 400,000 civilians have been forced to flee from their homes since the start of the year, joining 2.9 million Afghans already internally displaced across the country at the end of last year, she said.
ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Justin Gomez, Guy Davies and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan is urging Washington to evacuate Afghans who are under threat because of their work with the U.S. government — warning they cannot get out on their own and are in desperate need, according to an internal cable obtained by ABC News.
In an urgent and emotional appeal to State Department leadership, Ambassador Ross Wilson called for help for the thousands of Afghans who served the U.S., but will not be evacuated in the coming weeks by the administration.
President Joe Biden has said he is committed to helping Afghans who helped the U.S. But his plans only call for relocating Afghans who have received approval for a special immigrant visa — a program created by Congress for interpreters, guides and other contractors who worked for the U.S. military and diplomatic missions for two years.
With nearly one third of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals now captured by Taliban fighters, Afghans, U.S. lawmakers and advocacy groups are urging the administration to increase the tempo of evacuation flights and the scope of who qualifies for a coveted seat on one.
“They fear being watched walking in and out of the Embassy and lay awake at night fearing the Taliban will knock on their doors,” Wilson wrote of two Afghan staffers who spoke with U.S. officials.
Last week, the State Department announced that Afghans who did not qualify for the special immigrant visa program could instead apply for refugee status under a new initiative. That includes Afghans who didn’t meet the two-year employment requirement, who worked for a U.S.-funded program or a contractor instead of directly for the government, or who worked for a U.S.-based media outlet.
But that new program requires that these Afghans flee the country first — a barrier too high for the vast majority of them, according to Wilson.
“Any assumption that Afghan refugees can make their way to safety on foot does not reflect the new reality,” Wilson wrote — noting Taliban forces exercise control of more than half of the country’s border crossings, neighboring countries Iran and Pakistan are closing their borders to more refugees and other countries around the world are not offering Afghans visas to enter.
Instead, these Afghans embassy employees and close contacts are “under threat because of their work with the U.S. government … but cannot get out,” he added.
That group includes prominent women’s rights activists that the U.S. itself “raised as examples of progress toward gender equality” and are now threatened because of it, according to Wilson.
There are 2,000 Afghan embassy employees and their families, along with thousands more with U.S. ties who are seeking this new refugee status, according to the cable.
The administration, however, has already said it is not planning to help evacuate these Afghans.
“At this point in time, unfortunately, we do not anticipate relocating them, but we will continue to examine all the options to protect those who have served with or for us, and we will review the situation on the ground,” a senior State Department official told reporters last week.
Instead, it may struggle to evacuate all those special immigrant visa applicants, along with their families, that it has already committed to helping.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday that despite the evacuation of a significant number of U.S. diplomats, the embassy will continue to process visas in Afghanistan.
The administration also announced Thursday that is is moving 1,000 U.S. troops to Qatar shortly to help process evacuated Afghans there, as it increases the number of flights of Afghans directly to the U.S., too.
Some 4,000 Afghans — 1,000 interpreters and their family members — are being evacuated to Fort Lee, a U.S. Army post in central Virginia, and those flights will become daily in the coming days, Price said. These applicants have been approved for U.S. visas by the embassy and cleared security vetting, according to U.S. officials.
“We have a solemn, a sincere responsibility to these brave Afghans,” Price told reporters Thursday. “We’re going to honor that responsibility and increase the pace of those relocation flights.”
In total now, 1,200 Afghans have been relocated to Fort Lee, according to Price. Roughly 90% of them have been processed and cleared to depart the installation, moving to their new homes across the U.S., a State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Wednesday.
In addition, the administration has said it plans to evacuate 4,000 more interpreters, plus their family members, who have been approved by the embassy, but not yet vetted.
This group — estimated to be approximately 20,000 Afghans in total — will be relocated to safe third locations, such as Qatar, Kuwait or the U.S. territory Guam, but it’s unclear whether the administration has any agreements to host them yet.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the 1,000 service members — medical personnel, military police and engineers, among others — will support processing applicants, who could spend months at U.S. military installations in Qatar as they await their applications to be adjudicated. But a State Department spokesperson later told ABC News they have no announcements yet on third-country relocation sites.
