this is bbc news. our top stories: the united states insists the kabul airlift will continue, despite two attacks, killing more than 60 people near the airport. an eyewitness described the carnage at the scene. ~ ,, �* scene. translation: the explosion _ scene. translation: the explosion was _ scene. translation: the explosion was really - scene. translation: the - explosion was really powerful, half or held into the water and others on the ground outside and encouraged the wounded here on stretchers here, my clothes are completely bloodied.— clothes are completely bloodied. , �* bloodied. president biden - raises bloodied. president biden praises the _ bloodied. president biden praises the 13 _ bloodied. president biden praises the 13 us - bloodied. president biden praises the 13 us service | praises the 13 us service personnel victims as heroes and vows to track down the perpetrators. we will not forgive. we will not forget. we will hunt you down and make you pay.

and an affiliate of the islamic state group says it carried out the attacks. we will look at what it means for the future of afghanistan. and seeking another escape route as thousands of afghans struggled to flee their country. we report from the border with pakistan. hello and welcome. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. president biden�*s vowed to hunt down the islamic state militants who carried out a twin bomb attack at kabul airport, which killed at least 13 us service personnel and dozens of afghans. the first explosion happened just before dusk outside the abbey gate, leaving bodies strewn in a sewage ditch. the second blast was near the baron hotel, which has been used by some western nations as a staging point for evacuations

since the airlift began. there had been warnings in recent days that an off—shoot of the islamic state group in the region was planning an attack. speaking at the white house, mr biden insisted that the airlift would continue, despite the bombing. he said the service personnel who lost their lives were heroes, and the attackers would be made to pay. we will continue an obligation, a sacred obligation, all of you, families of those heroes, the obligation is not temporary, it lasts forever. the lives we lost today were lives given in the service of liberty, the service of security and the service of others. in the service of america. like theirfellow brothers and sisters in arms who died defending our vision

and our values in the struggle against terrorism, of the fallen this day are part of a great, noble company of american heroes. to those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone wishes america harm, know this. we will not forgive. we will not forget. we will hunt you down and make you pgy- will hunt you down and make you pay. i will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command. we will not be deterred by terrorists. we will not let them stop our mission. we will continue the evacuation and i have also ordered my commander to develop operational plans to strike isis cake and its facilities, we will respond at fourth and capability at our

time and a place we choose at a moment of our choosing. —— isis k. 0ur correspondent in washington nomia iqbal was watching that speech — she told me mr biden struck an emotional and defiant tone. he showed empathy and compassion and some of the traits that mr biden is well known for, has been criticised for not showing enough of those traits, but he did. he showed emotion but yes, it was very defiant and on the clip we just heard, that's the one that has been played out, as you can imagine, across the american networks, saying that we will hunt you down and make you pay to isis k who has taken responsibility for those explosions in kabul, the question is how does he plan to do that? we understand the us military has been instructed by him to attack them somehow but it's suspiciously sounds like military action which is the very thing he wants to avoid. the big question is of course will this evacuation mission continue, and given the threats

why would america even stay one more day in afghanistan? but he is pretty confident still that the mission will go to plan and everyone who wants to get out will get out by next tuesday. you mentioned the us networks there and for our view is not in america, what is the public mood and reaction been to this? it has been the deadliest day for the american military since 2011, so how is it going down in america?— 2011, so how is it going down in america? well predictably, the republicans _ in america? well predictably, the republicans are _ in america? well predictably, the republicans are really - the republicans are really going after mr biden. there are some republicans here calling for him to be impeached and calling for him to be ——to resign and they seem to forget, which is something that biden remind the american public of in his speech, it was actually mr trump who signed the agreement with the taliban when he was president. of course the liberal media points out while mr trump, liberal media points out while mrtrump, mr biden liberal media points out while mr trump, mr biden could have overturned that policy, given that he overturned other trumpet policies as well. in terms of the american public, us decided many years ago that

afghanistan not going to be worth the cost, they wanted out and want to disrupt up —— trump policies. they wonder about how it is going in terms of the evacuation missions and they don't want to see headlines of american citizens or troops being killed there but i think this is a cold, hard political calculation by mr biden and i think he is thinking in the end if we get everyone out he will bejudged by if we get everyone out he will be judged by the way it ends and not how it started. that's our correspondent _ and not how it started. that's our correspondent in - our correspondent in washington. we'll get more on president biden�*s comments in a few minutes but first, our chief international correspondent lyse doucet sent this report on the latest in kabul. and a warning there are some distressing images from the start. the feared attack, a bombing forewarned, casualties rushed yet again into kabul�*s emergency hospital after twin bombings close to kabul airport. this man was there. translation: i saw at least 400 or 500 people there. _ the explosion was really powerful.

half were hurled into the water, others on the ground outside. we carried the wounded here on stretchers and, here, my clothes are completely bloodied. so many wounded, some shoved into wheelbarrows. afghans who'd hoped to be on an aeroplane tonight, flying to a safer place. this attack — claimed by the islamic state group — shattered that hope and struck one of the deadliest blows against us troops in the past 20 years. the pentagon put on a brave face. i'd like to offer my profound condolences to the families of our servicemen and women and afghan civilians who lost their lives today. we have put more than 5,000 us service members at risk to save as many civilians as we can. it's a noble mission and today, we have seen first—hand how dangerous that mission is. isis will not deter us from accomplishing the mission, i can assure you of that. hours earlier in the centre of kabul, an ever—growing

clamour — people desperate to find ways to get that airport. i worked in security with british people. how many years? maybe one year, i was, a few years ago. but now the british are saying it's too dangerous to go to the airport. it's dangerous, yes. i cannot go in the airport. i cannot go. even three—year—old salim is worried, just listening to his mother. she tells us they got to the airport and were sent from gate to gate. she says the taliban asked, "why do you want to leave?" and threatened to shoot her. now, it's been two days on this street for her exhausted children. the taliban are now stopping afghans from even travelling to the airport. but still, they try. they're bringing certificates,

they're bringing flight details, they're bringing whatever letter they've ever had from any government anywhere in the world. whatever the risks there are in going to the airport, whatever the risks there are at the airport today, for all of them — just look at this — for them, the greatest danger is staying here in afghanistan. and tonight, that danger all too clear. there had been warnings for a week of an attack like this — a last strike against western troops set to leave within days — another blow to many afghans' last hope of leaving this chaos behind. lyse doucet, bbc news, kabul. i've been speaking to retired lieutenant colonel daniel davis, an author and american foreign policy analyst who himself served in afghanistan. this is what he had to say about the latest attack at kabul airport.

it's really anguishing. i was actually in afghanistan exactly actually in afg ha nista n exactly ten actually in afghanistan exactly ten years ago in august of 2011 when should look helicopter crashed and 30 americans lost their lives at once and this is their lives at once and this is the next deadliest day we've had an entire 20 years of war and it's a tough one, i'm not lying —— a chinook helicopter. any time you've been there, everybody in uniform, it feels like they are a brother and especially as, you know, kinsmen of our country, it's a tough day. kinsmen of our country, it's a tough day-— kinsmen of our country, it's a tou~h da . , �* ., , tough day. president biden has remained steadfast. _ tough day. president biden has remained steadfast. he - tough day. president biden has remained steadfast. he says i tough day. president biden has| remained steadfast. he says the withdrawal is right, it will continue, he will stick to the deadline and he says he has given the military all the support needs. do you agree with that?— with that? yes, 100%. i absolutely _ with that? yes, 100%. i absolutely wish - with that? yes, 10096. i absolutely wish it - with that? yes, 10096. i absolutely wish it had i with that? yes, 10096. i. absolutely wish it had been done better, it could have been co—ordinated much more tightly and i think there's other things we could have done to minimise and mitigate some of this but look, this was always going to be a disaster, the way it happened, because the only reason that all of these things

are falling apart right here at the last is because we've had 20 years of abject failure of american policy and unwillingness to be honest with the american people and with the american people and with the west generally, and with the west generally, and with the extraordinary level of corruption within the afghan government and military, all of which was on display over about a ten day period when their entire edifice collapsed and allowed the taliban not even having to fight for most of their territory and literally drove into kabul.- their territory and literally drove into kabul. what have the foreiin drove into kabul. what have the foreign policy — drove into kabul. what have the foreign policy failures _ drove into kabul. what have the foreign policy failures been - foreign policy failures been and how have the american public been misled or not given the full picture?— the full picture? well, so i've first served — the full picture? well, so i've first served there _ the full picture? well, so i've first served there -- - the full picture? well, so i've first served there -- 2005 i the full picture? well, so i'vel first served there -- 2005 and first served there —— 2005 and 26 and then again in 2010 and 2011 and i saw first hand on the ground why this would fail and as did several others. it's mainly because the afghan military were not being trained to a level where they could stand on their own. we were trying to train them where they had to depend upon us. we saw

that the government was continually extraordinarily corrupt, but instead of being honest about that are holding anyone accountable, we kept telling everyone that things are getting better, that they are getting better, that they are succeeding, on the right azimuth, they are getting their corruption under control and getting the people public support, none of which was ever true. we have been honest about this, especially so in 2014 or even as late as 2016 with president 0bama getting it out then, the taliban would only have 6% of the territory then, and almost all of this could have been avoided, we could have been avoided, we could have gotten out in order and the afghan government and military would have at least had a chance but but not being honest and then waiting until the last time when biden finally pulled the plug, they almost had no chance and they collapsed overnight.— collapsed overnight. president biden has said _ collapsed overnight. president biden has said the _ collapsed overnight. president biden has said the us - collapsed overnight. president biden has said the us will- collapsed overnight. president| biden has said the us will hunt down those responsible, they will pay the price. is it possible? how will he go about doing that?— doing that? absolutely, and in fact that really _ doing that? absolutely, and in fact that really underscores i fact that really underscores one of the reasons why i've been advocating for more than a decade for us to withdraw

because our security is not tied to having trips on the ground in afghanistan, it never was. —— troops. as we demonstrated when we took up 0sama bin laden in pakistan, albert bardi in syria, the leader of some money in 2019 or 2020, all those were taken out without the result of any troops on the ground ——al baghdadi. 0ur intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ability to strike direct targets anywhere in the world but a threat arises, we have the capacity, we've done it and we will continue to do it. having troops on the ground having troops withdrawn, the main thing it does it it takes the target off their backs on how we won't have any more of these killings but we still have the ability to reach out any time we identify a threat. retired lieutenant colonel daniel davis speaking to me earlier. stay with us here on bbc news. still to come: scientists in egypt discover the fossilised remains of an ancient four—legged whale.

he's the first african—american to win the presidential nomination for a major political party and he accepts, exactly 45 years to the day when martin luther king declared, "i have a dream". as darkness falls tonight, an unfamiliar light will appear in the south—eastern sky. an orange glowing disc that's brighter than anything, save the moon. 0ur neighbouring planet, mars. there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation. it will take months i and billions of dollars to repair what katrinal achieved injust hours. three weeks is the longest the great clock has been off duty in 117 years, so it was with great satisfaction that clockmaker john vernon swung the pendulum

to set the clock going again. big ben bongs. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: president biden has insisted the kabul airlift will continue, despite two attacks killing more than 60 people near the airport. the us president described the 13 americans who lost their lives as heroes and promised the perpetrators would pay for their actions. and let's stay with our top story. we can speak to javed ali, who's a former senior director for counter—terrorism at the us national security council. we national security council. spoke only 24 hours ago of we spoke only 24 hours ago and of course it is unfortunate circumstances that we are speaking again. just wanted to ask you first in the last few

moments, reuters news agency have said that of the 60 afghan who were killed, 28 were taliban fighters. what do you make of that? would they have been particularly targeted? was this an attack on the taliban? thanks for having me again. and interesting news if that reuters report is correct and unclear if this particular attack was solely focused on the taliban but make no mistake that isis and the taliban have been bitter rivals for the last seven years in afghanistan with the rise of isis—k so that could have been part of the operational design for that attack to kill or injure as many taliban members because they were also at some of these checkpoints and locations but they also targeted innocent afghan civilians and then the

tragedy of those who were killed so unfortunately with this attack, isis khorasan were able to cause casualties across this wide spectrum of targets they have pursued over the last year's. they have pursued over the last ear's. ~ ., ., , , ., year's. we have obviously had the attack _ year's. we have obviously had the attack now, _ year's. we have obviously had the attack now, looking i year's. we have obviously had i the attack now, looking forward to the future of afghanistan, how does this affect the dynamic between these two groups in the country and what is the impact of that on the afghan people?— is the impact of that on the afghan people? now that the taliban is the _ afghan people? now that the taliban is the controlling i taliban is the controlling government in afghanistan, they are going to have to come up with a strategy to deal with isis khorasan in their territory, and whether that means reconstituting some element of the afghan national army and some of these specialised counterterrorism capabilities that existed, that is something that is unclear at the moment. if not, then it's going to be the taliban taking on isis khorasan one on one

without any us or international coalition support, and that is going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. but i do assess that they will continue to try to attack each other in the months and years ahead. , �* , ahead. president biden says the us will hunt _ ahead. president biden says the us will hunt down _ ahead. president biden says the us will hunt down those - us will hunt down those responsible, make them pay the price. how easy will that be? this is going to be another challenge now with a lot of the infrastructure that previously was in place that allowed or facilitated counterterrorism operations, and military operations, and military operations either unilaterally for the united states or in partnership and support with the afghan national army, with all that gone almost all but gone i suspect, it is going to be hard doesn't mean that it will be impossible? 0ne be hard doesn't mean that it will be impossible? one of your previous commentators just a few minutes ago talked about the potential for the us few minutes ago talked about the potentialfor the us to engage in this kind of unilateral operations, it will just now be harder with that

infrastructure not in the country with these potential strikes from the united states coming offshore or over the horizon and some other parts of the region and in counterterrorism what you require when you are looking for people or individuals as targets, you are trying to get very precise intelligence, and so when you are not on the ground, when you don't have that infrastructure in place it just makes it harder. it doesn't mean it's impossible but it is just going to increase the ability or complicate the ability of the united states to engage in those operations.- united states to engage in those operations. ok, we will leave it there. _ those operations. ok, we will leave it there. thank - those operations. ok, we will leave it there. thank you i those operations. ok, we willj leave it there. thank you very much forjoining us. it's notjust kabul airport where people have been gathering to try to leave afghanistan since the taliban took over the country. thousands have also travelled to the border with pakistan, in the hope of getting out via the land border there. but many aren't being allowed through. 0ur correspondent, shumaila jaffery reports from the afg hanista n/pakistan border. this is the border point.

thousands of desperate families, trying to escape into pakistan. these are people who knew they had no chance at kabul airport. they are desperate to reach safety. but there is chaos here, too. just a few are being let across. these families left almost everything behind. with small children in tow, exhausted from walking in the baking heat, the elderly and sick pushed on wheelbarrows. as the taliban flag flutters at the border, people tell us they don't trust their country's new rulers and see no future in afghanistan any more. no—one can trust the taliban, because we have some experience 20 years ago. right now, we just want to come to a safe area. the people here have come from across afghanistan. since the taliban captured

kabul, thousands of ordinary afghans are crossing through the border every day. this woman is from the minority hazara community, persecuted by the taliban. she has made the dangerous trip from kabul with her daughters. she tells me that her daughter—in—law was killed in a taliban bombing some years ago. translation: they are terrible people. | i am scared of them. they have murdered my daughter—in—law. they do not have any sympathy. they are heartless. the people here are scared for their safety. there are many reasons for afghans to fear the taliban. they are walking into unknown futures. still, they do not want to stay behind. shumaila jaffery, bbc news, chaman, pakistan.

in other news, the united nations secretary—general antonio guterres has warned the un security council that the conflict in ethiopia has spread beyond the tigray region, and says the social fabric of the country is being torn apart. more than 200 people have been killed in fighting between the 0romo and amhara peoples in the west of the country. dozens of children abducted from an islamic school in northern nigeria three months ago have been freed. 136 pupils were seized from a seminary in tegina by gunmen demanding a ransom. six children reportedly died in captivity and another 15 escaped in june. michel barnier, the man who led the eu's negotiations on brexit, has announced plans to challenge the french president emmanuel macron at next year's elections. mr barnier is one of several potential candidates for the centre—right republican party, which is expected to name its final pick in november. courtney bembridge has more.

emmanuel macron spent a day in ireland, it was one of the last countries on his to—do list after he made an election promise to go to all eu member states within his presidential term. but all eyes are now on the's election and michel barnier has just entered the race to become the conservative candidate. his bed could open a new front in the election which, until now has been widely seen as a race between president akron and the far—right politician. michel barnier says he wants to change the country adding that limiting immigration would be a key policy pledge. the 70—year—old has previously held several top posts in french politics including foreign minister but he is most well—known for fielding this question... well-known for fielding this question. . ._ well-known for fielding this iuestion... ~ ., ., question... will we get a deal? over and _ question... will we get a deal?

over and over. _ question... will we get a deal? over and over. patience - question... will we get a deal? over and over. patience and i over and over. patience and determination were his brexit mottos but has challenge now is to distance himself from the brussels bible and reconnect with french voters, many of whom don't know who he is. scientists in egypt say they've discovered the fossilised remains of an amphibious, four—legged whale. the bones were found in rock formations that are 43 million years old. it's thought they could help trace the transition of whales from land to sea. the bbc�*s tim allman has the details. they are some of the most impressive and majestic animals on earth. giants of the ocean, we know they are most definitely not fish, and up until now, we knew they didn't normally have legs. but then in the western deserts of egypt, these bones were unearthed.

translation: the these bones were unearthed. translation:— these bones were unearthed. translation: the discovery of all a new species _ translation: the discovery of all a new species of _ translation: the discovery of all a new species of amphibiousj all a new species of amphibious whale that could both swim and walk on land. we named it after the god anubis. this walk on land. we named it after the god anubis.— the god anubis. this is what the god anubis. this is what they may — the god anubis. this is what they may have _ the god anubis. this is what they may have looked i the god anubis. this is what they may have looked like i the god anubis. this is what i they may have looked like some 40 million years ago. it's estimated to be three metres long and would have weighed somewhere in the region of 600 kilos and it may be a sort of missing link is wales involved moving from the land to the oceans. translation: the . uestion oceans. translation: the question here _ oceans. translation: the question here is, _ oceans. translation: the question here is, can i oceans. translation: tue: question here is, can we oceans. translation: tte: question here is, can we find skeletons of other whales? whales are considered one of the creatures that developed the creatures that developed the most in their evolution because they evolved from living on land to living in a sea. , ., ., ., sea. the hunt is now on for more bones, _ sea. the hunt is now on for more bones, more - sea. the hunt is now on for more bones, more fossils. | sea. the hunt is now on for. more bones, more fossils. a chance to discover the secret of wales that could walk. ——

whales that could walk. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @richpreston. goodbye for now. hello. it's a mark of how strange a summer it's been when i can tell the truth and say it's been warmer than average for the uk. some of you will look at me like i've gone crazy. the met office say that it's been about a degree warmer than average this summer so far, warmest compared with average in scotland and northern ireland. you know in london and south—east england, even though it has been a little warmer than average, it's been really quite wet and dull this summer. it is at least now dry, but it is still quite dull with all the cloud we've had. high pressure is close to the uk, keeping things settled friday, the weekend

and throughout much of next week. doesn't mean sunny, though, and overnight and into the morning, a lot of cloud will have pushed in from the east. and temperatures will be a little lower than this in the countryside. across scotland, a lot of the cloud will clear during friday, but still keeping some towards the east coast. northern ireland, once any fog patches clear, some sunny spells here. for wales, especially in the west, far south—west of england, for cumbria, some occasional sunshine, perhaps developing more widely through some eastern parts of england on through the afternoon. this wind direction, though, will continue a feed of cloud and breeze into the coast of eastern scotland and north—east england, keeping temperatures down here at around 15, 16 degrees, whereas elsewhere, mainly 17 to 20. a little higher, though, with prolonged sunny spells across western parts. 0vernight and into saturday, areas of cloud, clear spells, down into single figures where you're clear. and by the end of the night and first thing on saturday, the chance of a few showers running in across south—east england, more especially into kent. so this is how the

weekend is shaping up. it is looking, for the most part, dry, barthe chance of that shower towards the far south—east on saturday for a time, variable cloud and some sunny spells around. probably faring quite well for sunny spells during saturday. temperatures, high teens, just a few creeping into the low 20s. a bit of a change for part two of the weekend on sunday. the high pressurejust drifting more towards the northwest, allowing a flow of a little more moist air to run down into scotland, with more widely cloudier skies on sunday, perhaps northern ireland, too, and running in across the eastern side of england, where, still, along that north sea coast, it'll be rather cool in the cloud. but really quite pleasant where you're still getting to see a bit of sunshine.

this is bbc news. the headlines: president biden has insisted the kabul airlift will continue, despite two attacks killing more than 60 people near the airport. the bbc public producer in kabul has confirmed 90 people were killed in the attack. mr biden said he'd been advised by commanders on the ground that the evacuation of us citizens and the afghans who had worked for them could be completed by the end of august deadline. 13 us service personnel are among those killed along with dozens of afghans in the bomb attacks at kabul airport. president biden described the americans who lost their lives as "heroes" and promised that the perpetrators would be made to pay for their actions. an affiliate of the islamic state group says it carried out the attacks. there had been warnings about the security implications of large gatherings at kabul airport. the un secretary—general has called an emergency meeting of the security council to discuss the crisis in afghanistan. now on bbc news, hardtalk.