KABUL: A large explosion rocked Afghanistan’s capital near the US Embassy just minutes into Wednesday, the anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the United States.
A plume of smoke rose over Kabul just after midnight and sirens could be heard. Inside the embassy, employees heard this message over the loudspeaker: “An explosion caused by a rocket has occurred on compound.”
There was no immediate comment from Afghan officials or those with the NATO mission, which is also nearby.
It would be the first major attack in the Afghan capital since President Donald Trump abruptly called off US-Taliban talks over the weekend, on the brink of an apparent deal to end America’s longest war.
Two Taliban car bombs shook Kabul last week, killing several civilians and two members of the NATO mission. Trump has cited the death of a US service member in one of those blasts as the reason why he now calls the US-Taliban talks “dead.”
The 9/11 anniversary is a sensitive day in Afghanistan’s capital and one on which attacks have occurred. A US-led invasion of Afghanistan shortly after the 2001 attack toppled the Taliban, who had harbored Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader and attacks mastermind.
In the nearly 18 years of fighting since then, the number of US troops in Afghanistan soared to 100,000 and dropped dramatically after bin Laden was killed in neighboring Pakistan in 2011.
Now about 14,000 US troops remain and Trump has called it “ridiculous” that they are still in Afghanistan after so long and so many billions of dollars spent.
It is not clear whether the US-Taliban talks will resume.
Blast heard near US Embassy in Kabul on 9/11 anniversary
Blast heard near US Embassy in Kabul on 9/11 anniversary
Security lines hit three hours at some US airports as TSA absences rise
- Travelers are facing TSA lines of up to nearly three hours long at some major airports, causing missed flights and massive delays during peak travel
WASHINGTON/NEW ORLEANS: Waiting times in security lines at some US airports extended to three hours on Sunday, as absences by Transportation Security Administration workers rose during a partial government shutdown and as spring-break travel increased.
Houston Hobby Airport at one point on Sunday reported lines averaging 3-1/2 hours, and at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) the wait times averaged three hours.
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport advised passengers on Sunday to arrive at least three hours before their scheduled departure and warned delays could continue the rest of the week.
“TSA is experiencing a shortage of workers at the security checkpoint, which is causing longer-than-average lines,” the airport said in a social media post.
Eliana Patterson, who was returning home to Boston, said security lines at the New Orleans airport snaked around the terminal and out an exit into a nearby parking lot. “My flight’s been delayed but if it hadn’t been I’d be a little worried.”
TSA said longer-than-average lines were also reported at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Several airports reported higher-than-normal absences among TSA officials on Sunday. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on February 13 after Congress failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms demanded by Democrats. That halted operational funding for several government agencies, including the TSA, resulting in about 50,000 TSA airport security screeners working without pay.
“Travelers are facing TSA lines of up to nearly three hours long at some major airports, causing missed flights and massive delays during peak travel,” the DHS said in a statement.
On Sunday, a group representing major US airlines said the long security lines were causing flights to be delayed and passengers to miss flights.
“Congress and the administration must act with urgency to reach a deal that reopens DHS and ends this shutdown. America’s transportation security workforce is too important to be used as political leverage,” said Chris Sununu, CEO of trade association Airlines for America.
Carriers are expecting a record-breaking spring travel period, with 171 million passengers expected to fly, up 4 percent over the same two-month period last year.
Spring-break travel will heat up just as TSA workers receive their first zero paycheck on March 13, Sununu said. Ha Nguyen McNeill, the top official at the TSA, told Congress last month that around 1,110 transportation security officers left the TSA in October and November 2025 following a 43-day government shutdown, a more than 25 percent increase in departures compared with the same period in 2024.
