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Texas U.S. House Rep. Michael McCaul, who earlier this week said the U.S. should not be on the Taliban's withdrawal timetable in Afghanistan, said earlier today that he is "devastated" by the apparent suicide bombing at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA).
The blast killed at least a dozen U.S. troops and wounded "several others," according to Reuters' coverage of the explosion. The Reuter's news story cited the Pentagon as saying the blast was a "complex attack" during the U.S.'s ongoing evacuation mission in Afghanistan.
"I'm devastated to hear about the explosion at HKIA, and am praying for brave service members working there and the families of those targeted in this attack," McCaul said in a Facebook post that linked to the Reuters news story. "I'm monitoring the situation but it's vital we get to the bottom of what happened and – with Biden's Aug. 31 deadline looming – understand how this will impact evacuations moving forward."
The Overseas Security Advisory Council also issued an advisory of alert over the explosion and reports of gunfire outside the Abbey Gate at HKIA. The U.S. State Department's Consular Affairs office has advised U.S. citizens in Afghanistan to avoid the airport and its gates "due to threats outside the Kabul airport" and that "those at the Abbey Gate, East Gate or North Gate now should leave immediately."
McCaul has represented the 10th U.S. House District of Texas since 2005 and he currently is in his ninth term.
The 10th District is much of the area between Austin and Houston, including Bastrop, Colorado, Fayette, Harris, Lee, Travis, Washington and Waller counties.
On Aug. 25, McCaul took to social media to criticize the Biden administration's evacuations from Afghanistan, saying the U.S. is on the wrong timetable.
"We are United States of America," McCaul said in his Twitter post that day. "We should never let the Taliban dictate how we exit or when we exit Afghanistan."
The Twitter post linked to a Twitter thread by journalist Em Nguyen the same day, quoting McCaul in his capacity as Republican leader of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"If it were me, I would tell [the Taliban] to back off or we would have a very, very hard attack," McCaul said in Nguyen's Twitter thread. "We would strike them. We have that capability. We are under their timetable now and not ours and that's sad."