In apparent evidence of tense security cooperation with the Taliban, a US drone strike killed five Islamic State suicide bombers on their way to carry out a second attack on Kabul airport.

According to US and Taliban officials, the strike hit a vehicle loaded with explosives in a residential area of Kabul on Sunday, resulting in a boom audible throughout the city.

A witness informed CNN that the missile killed nine civilians from one family, including six children.

The Taliban "welcomed" the hit, according to a senior Taliban insider, indicating a hesitant alignment with the Biden administration over the threat presented by the Islamic State's Afghan subsidiary, IS-K.

The Taliban has backed down from a vow to seal the borders when the US leaves. This is a significant concession to international pressure.

In a joint statement issued on Sunday, ninety countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, said they had received guarantees from the Taliban ensuring safe passage for Afghans who desire to leave the country when the airlift ceases.

Biden has ordered all American troops out of Afghanistan by Tuesday, bringing the country's longest war to a close after nearly two decades.

By Sunday evening, the last civilian evacuation flights were due to depart. According to a US military source, most troops would likely leave on Monday, leaving only a skeletal force of US marines.

However, a senior counselor to US President Joe Biden stated the US would continue to target IS-K members after the US troop withdrawal date of August 31.

According to Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, US President Joe Biden "will stop at nothing to make IS-K pay."

Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attended a memorial service for American military soldiers on Sunday at Dover Airport in Delaware, where the bodies of 13 US servicemen killed in an IS-K suicide attack on crowds at Kabul airport's Abbey Gate last week were received. The explosion also killed at least 169 Afghans.

According to American military authorities, the strike in Kabul on Sunday afternoon killed "several" would-be suicide attackers.

The strike was carried out in "self-defense," according to US Navy Captain Bill Urban, a military spokesman.

Captain Urban stated, "We are confident that we successfully hit the target." “The presence of a significant amount of explosive material was indicated by significant secondary explosions from the vehicle.”

The Taliban acknowledged the incident, saying the assailants were on their way to Kabul airport when they were hit.

According to initial accounts, civilians, including a kid, were killed. The US announced that it was looking into the matter.

According to CNN, a Taliban spokesman described the bombing as a breach of Afghanistan's sovereignty.

Since the suicide attack at Kabul airport's Abbey Gate on Thursday, this was the second US strike against IS-K. In a separate drone operation on Saturday, the Pentagon said it killed two of the attack's IS-K planners.

Generals were claimed to have been given the “green light” to strike the group without asking White House approval, according to Biden, who stated in a statement that the strike “would not be the last.”

According to Politico, the president's "guidance is to just do it." “We'll strike them if we find any more.”

Despite deeply established misgivings on both sides, that campaign is likely to see increased convergence with the new Taliban government.

A Taliban spokesman, Bilal Kareemi, told CNN that it was "not right" to undertake operations on other people's land.

According to The Telegraph, IS-K is a "real concern" for the Taliban, and the strike is "welcomed."

According to the insider, the terror cell has increased the number of safe homes in the capital from which it recruits, and the Taliban wants to eliminate it with "significant force."

He went on to say that after obtaining intelligence regarding a planned attack on Kabul's Shia minority, the group was informed of the severity of the IS-K threat, which was then thwarted.

IS-K is a splinter faction of the Islamic State that was established in 2014. Despite the fact that they are both hard-line Sunni Islamist organizations, it is a staunch adversary of the Taliban, with whom it has fought pitched wars for land control.

General Kenneth McKenzie, the director of US Central Command, said after the airport attack on Thursday that the US had supplied enough intelligence with the Taliban to let them "act in time and space to try to prevent these attacks."

He believes that such cooperation has averted other attempts.

Some observers have warned that members of the Taliban, IS-K, and the Haqqani network, a family-led militant organization from Pakistan's border region that is affiliated with the Taliban leadership but has significant autonomy, have overlap.

There are also questions regarding how Thursday's assailants got past the Taliban checkpoints on the roads leading up to the airport.

The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, stated that a US diplomatic presence in Afghanistan by Wednesday is "unlikely," but that the effort to assist civilians fleeing the nation will continue.

“There isn't a time limit on that effort. And we have systems in place to assist in the continuous departure of people from Afghanistan if they wish to leave,” he said.

Sullivan stated that the roughly 300 Americans still awaiting evacuation had enough time to get to the airport and be placed on flights.

Reuters reported that roughly 1000 civilians were waiting for planes at the airport on Sunday morning, according to a Western official.

The comments came as the Taliban's highest leader, who has never been seen in public, arrived in Afghanistan to oversee the new government.

Hibatullah Akhundzada, who is widely expected to take over as supreme leader while a council of other Taliban officials oversees day-to-day operations, is in Kandahar and is scheduled to make a public appearance soon, according to a spokesman.

At a conference of foreign ministers from the G7, Nato, and Qatar on Monday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will advocate for "pragmatic" engagement with the Taliban to ensure they keep their assurances of safe passage (Tuesday NZT).

At a UN Security Council meeting, Britain, the United States, and France will also present a draft resolution calling on the Taliban to respect freedom of movement, prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorist activities, and ensure humanitarian access for UN agencies.