US President Joe Biden on Thursday said he had ordered military commanders to develop plans to strike ISIS assets, leaders and facilities to hit back against the twin suicide bombings at Kabul airport in which 11 US marines and a medic were among those killed and several injured.
"We will respond with force and precision at our time at a place we choose in a moment of our choosing," Biden said in his address from the White House.
"To those who carried out this attack as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," Biden said.
He said the evacuation mission from Kabul will continue and US forces would fly out as many people as possible before the last date of withdrawal on August 31.
Biden also said there was no evidence to suggest that the Taliban colluded with Islamic State militants in carrying out the deadly attacks in Kabul.
He said the United States had an idea of who had ordered the attacks, although it was not certain.
Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) the Afghan branch of the IS militants who have been fighting U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility for the bomb attack. ISIS-K is known to be an arch enemy of the Taliban.
Islamic State said a suicide bomber "managed to reach a large gathering of translators and collaborators with the American army at 'Baran Camp' near Kabul Airport and detonated his explosive belt among them, killing about 60 people and wounding more than 100 others, including Taliban fighters."
According to a Reuters report, U.S. intelligence officials believe the movement used the instability that led to the collapse of Afghanistan's Western-backed government this month to strengthen its position and step up recruitment of disenfranchised Taliban members.
