He made his way through a canal near Abbey Gate, on the southeast side of Kabul’s airport. His leg with the metal rod ached as he waded through the putrid water. No matter the difficulty or danger in attempting to leave Afghanistan, he worried the consequences of staying would be much worse. At around 5 p.m., he was at the Abbey Gate in the canal, where U.S. troops were operating a checkpoint.
Multiple gunmen then opened fire on the civilians and military forces. A local affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Post reviewed dozens of photos and videos, analyzed satellite imagery and spoke to witnesses to understand the events before and after the devastating blast. Taken together, they reveal a complex web of checkpoints and visualize a chaotic scene in the wake of the bombing.
An analysis of photos and videos from Wednesday, the previous day, found multiple routes to the blast site. A path leading to the Abbey Gate had at least two Taliban checkpoints and a coalition checkpoint. The security perimeter near the Abbey Gate was guarded by coalition forces. It’s unclear how the bomber gained access to the area.
The U.S. Defense Department did not immediately respond for comment, but American security officials have said the investigation into how the suicide bomber ultimately reached American forces is ongoing. Taliban leaders have said the attack was the result of poor American security.
Before the attack
Mohammad Paimani, a 27-year-old journalist, was one of hundreds of Afghans near Abbey Gate on Thursday morning who had ignored days of warnings by the United States to avoid the airport. Hours before the attack, he shot a video showing large crowds in the area.
A few feet away, Jon watched those trying to reach the other side of the canal to present their documents to American soldiers. Shortly before the blast, he took a photo showing throngs of people tightly packed into the small space and a child on the ledge next to military personnel.
In a brief moment of opportunity, Jon thought he could get the soldier’s attention. He reached out with his documents. Then the bomb detonated.
“It was chaos and soon as I was going to call one of them to get their attention, I just heard boom,” Jon said. Dazed by the blast, a loud tone rang in his ear as he tried to escape.
Paimani also saw, then felt, an explosion.
“It was like doomsday … no one was helping injured or dead people,” Paimani wrote in a text message.
Fearing a second suicide bomber or the possibility of being trapped, he fled with the panicked crowd. He witnessed women and children trampled in the chaos.
“I never thought this would happen because the Taliban had an agreement with the Americans,” Paimani said. “People thought that Americans warned people of threats just to scare them not to crowd the airport but indeed the [Americans’] warnings came true.”
Ali, who worked for the U.S. Embassy and spoke on the condition that he only be identified by his first name for security concerns, went to the airport with his documents, his ID and an email from the embassy that told him to go to the East Gate of the airport, about a 10-minute walk to the Abbey Gate.
After hearing the explosion, and the gunshots that followed, he quickly took a photo of U.S. troops who looked in the direction of the blast. Then the soldiers threw smoke bombs to disperse the crowd, injuring several bystanders, according to Ali.
“Lots of women, I saw many of them where their faces were burned and they didn’t move,” he said. He took a photo of a man who he said was injured by canisters.
The aftermath
Videos filmed in the immediate aftermath, near where Jon stood, show dozens of bloodied bodies, mangled and piled on top of one another. Some lie in a sewage canal; others are on the ground or the retaining walls just outside the airport’s barricaded perimeter. Survivors can be seen making their way through human remains and personal belongings to pull limp bodies from the water.
In another video, someone cries out, “Oh God, we repent to you, we repent to you.”
As the injured escaped the blast site down a dirt path, away from the airport, a young boy looked for his father. Then a man yelled, “Don’t stop here! Go, go.”
Ambulances transported some of the injured to the Emergency Hospital, a medical center for victims of war, about three miles away from the blast site.
By nightfall, video showed people had again gathered near the area of the blast.
Satellite imagery on Friday showed far fewer people in front of the entrances to the airport, especially at Abbey Gate, which appeared deserted compared with previous days.
People did try to reach the airport through the north gate, however. A video obtained by The Post showed they were dispersed with flash bangs. Evacuation flights resumed. On Saturday, Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said those who worked with the United States were still being allowed into the airport.
U.S. commanders have said the evacuation mission will continue, despite warnings that another terrorist attack in Kabul is likely. They have requested changes to the security perimeter and road closures in an effort to improve security. Kirby said Friday that airport operations are still under U.S. military control.
For Jon, like so many Afghans still desperate to leave, he made plans to return again to the airport after the attack. “If I stay, I am dead. I have no choice but to return to the gates again.”
Mahnaz Rezaie, Laris Karklis and Karly Domb Sadof contributed to this report.
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