New documents show US knew botched Afghan strike killed civilians within hours
Mike Brest
Video Embed
Newly released documents reveal that U.S. Central Command was aware of possible civilian casualties in the Aug. 29, 2021, botched drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan.
On Aug. 29, the U.S. was days away from completing its military withdrawal in Afghanistan after almost two decades of war, though the remaining U.S. forces were conducting a large-scale non-combatant evacuation operation for those who feared living under a Taliban regime. Three days earlier, an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed himself, 13 U.S. service members, and roughly 170 Afghan civilians who were near the Hamid Karzai International Airport, where the evacuation efforts were underway.
CENTCOM KILLED MORE THAN 650 ISIS OPERATIVES IN 2022, BUT THEIR IDEOLOGY LIVES ON
U.S. military officials followed a white Toyota Corolla for roughly eight hours, and they had intelligence to suggest another attack was imminent and would be carried out by ISIS operatives using a car of that make and model. But, the driver of this vehicle, Zemari Ahmadi, whose actions that tragic day appeared to confirm CENTCOM’s belief that he was a threat to U.S. forces, was simply an aid worker without ties to any terror organization.
Ten civilians were killed in the blast, many of them children, though U.S. defense officials were hesitant to acknowledge as much in the immediate aftermath of the strike.
“We are confident we successfully hit the target. Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material,” CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Bill Urban said on the day of the strike. “We are assessing the possibilities of civilian casualties, though we have no indications at this time. We remain vigilant for potential future threats.”
But, new CENTCOM documents obtained by the New York Times in a Freedom of Information Act request show that they were aware of it within hours of the strike.
Six of nine witnesses said that they learned within the immediate aftermath that there were civilians in the area of the strike that may have been killed, and within three hours, analysts came to believe that three children had been killed.
One of the unnamed witnesses said they found out about the possibility of civilian casualties “approx. 20 min post-strike,” while another said, “It wasn’t until about 25 minutes after the strike that I was alerted [civilians] were masked in the courtyard when the strike was taken.”
On Sept. 1, days after the strike, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reiterated to reporters that an “ISIS facilitator” was killed in the strike that he called “righteous,” even though there had already been reports of civilian casualties, in addition to the not previously disclosed assessments from CENTCOM officials who were involved in the strike.
The new details come from excerpts of their investigation into the strike. CENTCOM released 66 partially redacted pages of it to fulfill the FOIA request.
The ALCU has represented the Ahmadi family in their quest to relocate to the U.S. following the strike. Brett Max Kaufman, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU, told the Washington Examiner in August that only 11 of the 144 people the government promised to help had been relocated to the U.S., while 32 of them were still waiting in Afghanistan to be evacuated.
“The initial internal investigation makes clear that military personnel saw what they wanted to see and not reality, which was an Afghan aid worker going about his daily life. When confirmation bias was so deadly in this case, you have to ask how many other people targeted by the military over the years were also unjustly killed,” Hina Shamsi, director of ACLU’s National Security Project, told the Washington Examiner on Friday.
Then-CENTCOM commander Gen. Frank McKenzie told reporters on Sept. 17 that the conclusion of a military investigation confirmed that the people who were killed in the strike had no associations with ISIS-K or posed a threat to U.S. forces. He admitted the strike was “a mistake.” The New York Times identified Ahmadi as the target of the strike a week earlier.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“It’s a shocking disgrace that officials knew within hours that children and other civilians were likely killed, yet the Pentagon kept up false and incendiary allegations about the victims for 19 days,” Shamsi added. “Family members and NEI employees continue to suffer because grief and trauma are lasting. Parents had to bury their children, a wife had to bury her husband, and all those who survived are still dealing with the long-term consequences of this horrifying strike.”
A CENTCOM spokesperson directed the Washington Examiner to previous statements and briefings they’ve provided on the strike when asked for comment on the new information that officials were aware of the possible civilian casualties almost immediately. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.