On Aug. 29, 2021, American drone operators searched Kabul for the Islamic State bomber whom intelligence reports indicated was preparing to target masses of people trying to escape Afghanistan as U.S. forces withdrew from the country. The atmosphere was tense. Just three days earlier, another ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members and around 170 Afghans outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
For much of the day, operators of an MQ-9 Reaper had followed the movements of Zemari Ahmadi. Like the alleged bomber, Ahmadi drove a white Toyota Corolla that he drove in circuits around Kabul. Operators believed jugs inside the car’s trunk and a small black bag were filled with explosives.
The operators did not know that Ahmadi was an engineer and a 14-year employee of Nutrition & Education International, a 501(c)(3) organization that fights malnutrition in Afghanistan.
When Ahmadi pulled into the courtyard of the home he shared with his three siblings and their families, drone operators sent down a Hellfire missile. Ten civilians, including Ahmadi and seven children, were killed.
Drone footage later confirmed Ahmadi’s innocence. On the day of the attack, Ahmadi had been ferrying around colleagues and doing company business. The large plastic containers in his truck were not explosive devices but water jugs that Ahmadi had filled at his workplace to offset a water shortage in his neighborhood. The mysterious black bag held the laptop of Ahmadi’s boss.
In recognition of its grievous error, the Pentagon “offered unspecified condolence payments” to Ahmadi’s family and employees of NEI, the New York Times reported. In addition, it promised to relocate Ahmadi’s family and NEI employees to the United States.
Ajmal Ahmadi is one of three of Zemari’s siblings to be relocated after the drone strike. Speaking to the Washington Examiner through a translator, Ajmal Ahmadi expressed frustration that many of the government’s promises remain unfulfilled. Ajmal Ahmadi explained that the Pentagon has not provided promised compensation for the irrecoverable loss of his loved ones and the losses of tangible assets. More importantly, he says that numerous cousins, nephews, nieces, and uncles should be eligible for relocation but remain in Afghanistan.
Ahmadi’s family members may not have been, and may never be, added to the list of 144 people whom the U.S. government agreed to relocate in the aftermath of the strike.
NEI President Steven Kwon confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Zemari Ahmadi’s NEI colleagues have been relocated. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented NEI’s interests in negotiations, did not provide comment about whether NEI employees received compensation from the government.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about whether Zemari Ahmadi’s remaining family members would be relocated. The Pentagon did not respond to questions about the status of compensation payments and family relocations.
The Ahmadi family has faced numerous difficulties since arriving in New York in May 2022. A local resettlement agency placed his family in a shelter where Ajmal Ahmadi said the “conditions were not good.” Afghans in the area shared Ahmadi’s predicament with Ellen Smith, the executive director of Keeping Our Promise. Though Keeping Our Promise exclusively serves Afghan immigrants with special immigrant visas, board members unanimously decided to welcome the Ahmadi family into their program.
Keeping Our Promise’s programming helped Ajmal Ahmadi acquire the car he uses to drive to his construction job. Smith’s help was also instrumental when Ajmal Ahmadi faced another setback.
In October, a group of neighborhood boys and teenagers attacked and threatened Ajmal Ahmadi’s 10-year-old son as he got off the school bus outside his home. Following the incident, the boys began congregating outside the Ahmadi house, sometimes holding weapons, including a knife that Ajmal Ahmadi later found outside his house.
For weeks following the attack, Ajmal Ahmadi did not let his son leave the home. When the school became concerned, Smith intervened, setting up a meeting between Keeping Our Promise, the local school, the Rochester Police Department, and the Ahmadi family.
Officer Moses Robinson of the Rochester Police Department told the Washington Examiner that he created a safety plan for Ajmal Ahmadi’s son, and he has worked to identify the boys who have been terrorizing his neighborhood. He explained that assisting the family, as well as learning about the struggles new Afghan arrivals face, is one of his key priorities.
“These families are coming in to Rochester and other places around the country, and they’re trying to assimilate [and] adapt to an environment that is absolutely new for them, and they have already been traumatized,” he said.
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Ajmal Ahmadi continues to struggle under the burden of helping his family adjust to the U.S. while worrying about the safety of his family in Afghanistan. He explained that he has had no answers from the government about its evacuation promises, and he receives no response when he reaches out to ACLU lawyers.
“I think the media is the only way I can reach the authorities of the U.S. government to tell my problems,” Ajmal Ahmadi said.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the co-host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.