Joe Biden bows his head in a moment of silence as he speaks about the situation in Kabul, Afghanistan from the East Room of the White House on August 26, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:00 PM PT – Thursday, August 26, 2021

Joe Biden ordered strikes on ISIS after 13 U.S. service members were killed and another 18 injured following multiple explosions near the Kabul airport. Speaking from the White House on Thursday, Biden said the fallen soldiers were heroes and the “backbone of America.”

He went on to say, “each one of these women and men of our armed forces are the heirs of that tradition of sacrifice of volunteering to go in harms way to risk everything, not for glory, not for profit, but to defend what we love and the people we love.”

Officials have confirmed at least three explosions occurred near the Hamid Karzi Airport and reports on the ground claimed there was a third one just hours later. General Kenneth McKenzie also confirmed there were two suicide bombers: one at Abbey Gate and the second one in the vicinity of the Barron Hotel.

Biden warned to those who carried out the attacks or wished America harm,  the U.S. would not forgive nor forget. He added, “we will hunt you down and make you pay” as he asserted these terrorists would not win.

General McKenzie revealed there continues to be extremely active threats against the airport. He also said there are no plans to send more American troops to Kabul amid the attack, stating “we have the forces we need to protect ourselves there.”

Gen. McKenzie: I need to acknowledge the temporary suffering that some of our evacuees have had to endure. Please know that we continue to execute our number one mission, which is to get as many American citizens and other evacuees as possible out of Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/asvRmktKbh

— Department of Defense