"Because of security threats at the Serena Hotel, we advise US citizens to avoid travelling to the hotel and the surrounding vicinity", the US Embassy in Afghanistan said in a security alert on 11 October.
All Americans who are at or near the Serena Hotel should leave immediately, the mission added.
"In light of the increased risks you are advised not to stay in hotels, particularly in Kabul (such as the Serena Hotel)", an updated foreign travel guideline by the British government read.
The Serena Hotel, popular with business travellers and foreign guests, earned notoriety as a target for terrorist attacks by the Taliban*. In 2008, a suicide attack on the luxury hotel killed six. In 2014, an attack perpetrated by teenage terrorist fighters claimed nine lives. The most recent attack, in March 2020, when a rocket hit the outskirts of the hotel left two people injured.
Afghanistan has been governed by the Taliban since mid-August.
*The Taliban is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other nations.