US, Several Nations To Meet Virtually And Discuss Afghanistan

Foreign ministers from several countries will meet virtually Monday to discuss their next steps in Afghanistan, the US State Department said, as the airlift evacuation out of the country enters its final days.

The United States will host the meeting of "key partners," the State Department said Sunday, with the summit coming one day before US military forces are set to withdraw from Afghanistan following 20 years of war and slightly more than two weeks after the Taliban swept back to power.

Representatives from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Qatar, the European Union and NATO are set to participate, the State Department said. "The participants will discuss an aligned approach for the days and weeks ahead," the statement said.

The statement also said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would speak after the meeting to give an update on the United States' recent efforts in Afghanistan.

The meeting will come one day after the United States said it destroyed an explosive-laden vehicle with an air strike in Kabul on Sunday, hours after President Joe Biden warned of another terror attack in the capital following a suicide bombing on Thursday.

The Thursday attack killed more than 100 people, including 13 US service personnel.

Members of the so-called Islamic State group had targeted an area outside the Kabul airport, where the United States has been processing visas of Afghans, Americans and other foreign nationals seeking to leave the country in the weeks since the Taliban took control.

About 114,00 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since August 15.

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