The Pentagon has admitted a drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians, including up to seven children, was a “tragic mistake”.
General Kenneth Franklin McKenzie Jr, head of the US central command, said it was “unlikely” that the vehicle attacked on August 29, or those that died, were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to the forces. Americans.
“This attack was with the conviction that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport,” he said. “But it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apologies.
“As a combatant commander, I am fully responsible for this attack and this tragic result.”
He offered his “deepest condolences” to the families and friends of those killed, adding that the Pentagon is considering reparations.
“The strike was a tragic mistake,” he told a news conference.
For days after the strike, Pentagon officials had insisted that it was done correctly, despite reports that the driver of the attacked car was a longtime employee of a US humanitarian organization.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters two days after the attack that it appeared to a “fair” attack and that at least one of the people killed was an ISIS-K “facilitator” – the Affiliate. of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan.
The attack followed the ISIS-K suicide bombing at the Kabul airport, which killed 169 Afghan civilians and 13 American soldiers.
Since then, General Milley has backed down, saying, “This is a horrible war tragedy and it is heartbreaking.”
The driver of the vehicle was Zemerai Ahmadi, 37, who worked for a non-profit organization called Nutrition and Education International and was killed along with eight of his children and one of his cousins.
His family said he had stopped at his house, where he honked and his 11-year-old son came out, according to the family.
The boy then reportedly got into the car and Ahmadi let him drive to the driveway while the other youths went out to watch.
It was then that the Hellfire missile hit the Toyota vehicle.
General MacKenzie said US officials had received “a substantial body of evidence indicating the imminence of another attack” after the Kabul bombing, with intelligence suggesting that a white Toyota Corolla would be used.
US officials had identified a particular compound that they thought was being used by ISIS-K to plan an attack, and it was there that the Toyota vehicle was spotted.
They watching the car for eight hours and had seen several adult men load items into the car that they believed to be explosives.
A New York Times investigation suggests that it was actually water bottles.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “We now know that there was no connection between Mr. Ahmadi and ISIS-Khorasan, that his activities that day were completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced.” .
“We apologize and will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake.”
US President Joe Biden had touted the strike as a success and as proof that the United States could carry out “over the horizon” attacks from outside Afghanistan.
