US State Dept advises Americans against visiting Afghanistan

KABUL (Ariana News): The US State Department on Monday issued an advisory, warning Americans against traveling to Afghanistan – citing security risks as the reason.

The State Department issued a Level 4 advisory stating: “Do not travel to Afghanistan due to terrorism, risk of wrongful detention, civil unrest, kidnapping and crime.”

The statement went on to note that “multiple terrorist groups are active in country and US citizens are targets of kidnapping and hostage-taking.”

The US also accused the Islamic Emirate of harassing and detaining aid and humanitarian workers and said: “The activities of foreigners may be viewed with suspicion, and reasons for detention may be unclear.”

According to the statement, detention of US citizens can be “lengthy” and the IEA “do not regularly permit the United States to conduct welfare checks on US citizens in detention, including by phone.”

The State Department also said the IEA might not recognize a person’s US citizenship if they are a dual Afghan-American citizen.

“Individuals should not travel to Afghanistan for any reason, including to accompany eligible family members for relocation,” the statement read.

In conclusion the State Department advised US citizens in Afghanistan “to depart immediately via commercial means if possible.”

While the US continues to claim terrorist groups are operational in Afghanistan, the IEA has repeatedly rejected these claims and said Daesh, in particular, has been suppressed in Afghanistan.

The IEA has also repeatedly assured foreign visitors, including investors, of their safety. The IEA has also continuously said foreigners in Afghanistan prisons are in custody after breaking the law.

But multiple US officials continue to warn of possible Daesh attacks against the United States – the latest being Michael McCaul, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

In an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday night he said Daesh was of particular concern to America and that individuals were using Mexico to enter the country.

Asked about border security with Mexico, McCaul said what he worries most about is that following the fall of Afghanistan’s former government, “thousands of ISIS-K (Daesh) come out of those prisons at Bagram, ended up in the Khorasan region, which is Afghanistan, Tajikistan; they make their way over, they come through Mexico, and they enter into the United States.”

He went on to say: “Now we have ISIS in the homeland (America).”

Referring to last month’s arrest of eight Daesh members in the country – all from Tajikistan – he said the question now was how many more were in the country.

The Islamic Emirate meanwhile has not yet commented on either America’s advisory or on McCaul’s comments.