{"id":98443,"date":"2021-09-18T09:32:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-18T14:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=98443"},"modified":"2021-09-18T09:32:04","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T14:32:04","slug":"us-admits-last-drone-strike-in-kabul-a-tragic-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2021\/09\/18\/us-admits-last-drone-strike-in-kabul-a-tragic-mistake\/","title":{"rendered":"US Admits Last Drone Strike in Kabul a \u2018Tragic Mistake\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wsw\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-98444 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Drone-Mistake-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Drone-Mistake-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Drone-Mistake-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Drone-Mistake.jpg 600w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Drone-Mistake-24x16.jpg 24w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Drone-Mistake-36x24.jpg 36w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Drone-Mistake-48x32.jpg 48w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>VOA \u2014 A drone strike carried out during the waning hours of the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan did not kill a terrorist bent on attacking the international airport in Kabul, and instead killed as many as 10 civilians, including an aid worker and seven children.<\/p>\n<p>The admission Friday from the commander of U.S. troops in the region followed a military investigation sparked by claims from people on the ground, as well as media reports, that the target struck August 29 by a Hellfire missile was never a threat.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wsw__embed wsw__embed--small\">\n<figure class=\"media-image js-media-expand js-media-expand--ready\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gdb.voanews.com\/d528de32-dcec-45c9-9e6f-9d22f2867e0b_w250_r1_s.jpg\" alt=\"Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, attends a ceremony at Resolute Support headquarters, in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 12, 2021.\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, attends a ceremony at Resolute Support headquarters, in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 12, 2021.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThis strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport,\u201d General Kenneth \u201cFrank\u201d McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters at the Pentagon via a video link. \u201cOur investigation now concludes the strike was a tragic mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle or those that died were associated with ISIS-K,&#8221; McKenzie added, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group\u2019s affiliate in Afghanistan, also known as IS-Khorasan.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also apologized for the errant strike.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense, I offer my deepest condolences to surviving family members of those who were killed,\u201d Austin said in a statement. \u201cWe apologize, and we will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"wsw__embed\">\n<div class=\"infgraphicsAttach\">\n<div class=\"twitterSnippetProcessed\">\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1438944148191645696&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.voanews.com%2Fa%2Fus-admits-last-drone-strike-in-kabul-a-tragic-mistake-%2F6233741.html&amp;sessionId=58e84cd1bfc2b1c4394b107fa95dd126d84531c2&amp;siteScreenName=voanews&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=1890d59c%3A1627936082797&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1438944148191645696\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The apology was a dramatic turnaround for the U.S. military, which had been defending the airstrike for weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Just days after, the senior-most U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, defended the strike as \u201crighteous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know from a variety of other means that at least one of those people that were killed was an ISIS facilitator,\u201d Milley told Pentagon reporters September 1. \u201cThe procedures were correctly followed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even then, accounts from the ground were telling a different story \u2013 that instead of killing an IS-Khorasan facilitator, the U.S. drone strike had actually blown up Ezmarai Ahmadi, an aid worker with the California-based Nutrition and Education International who had applied for resettlement in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Family members said the other fatalities included Ahmadi\u2019s daughter, as well as nephews and nieces.<\/p>\n<p>Additional investigations by <em><a class=\"wsw__a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/10\/world\/asia\/us-air-strike-drone-kabul-afghanistan-isis.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The New York Times<\/a><\/em> and <em><a class=\"wsw__a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/investigations\/interactive\/2021\/kabul-drone-strike-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Washington Post<\/a> <\/em>cast further doubt on the U.S. assertion that the strike had eliminated an IS-Khorasan terrorist.<\/p>\n<div data-owner-ct=\"Article\" data-inline=\"False\">\n<div class=\"media-block also-read\"><a class=\"img-wrap img-wrap--size-3 also-read__img\" title=\"Report: US Afghan Airstrike May Have Mistaken Aid Worker for IS Fighter\" href=\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/6222338.html\"> <span class=\"thumb thumb16_9\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\" enhanced\" src=\"https:\/\/gdb.voanews.com\/b7b65102-687c-4562-93e7-dda49951eecc_w256_r1.jpg\" alt=\"FILE - Afghans inspect damage to the Ahmadi family house after a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 29, 2021. \" data-src=\"https:\/\/gdb.voanews.com\/b7b65102-687c-4562-93e7-dda49951eecc_w100_r1.jpg\" \/> <\/span> <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"media-block__content also-read__body also-read__body--h\"><a title=\"Report: US Afghan Airstrike May Have Mistaken Aid Worker for IS Fighter\" href=\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/6222338.html\"> <span class=\"also-read__text--label\"> SEE ALSO: <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"media-block__title media-block__title--size-3 also-read__text p-0\">Report: US Afghan Airstrike May Have Mistaken Aid Worker for IS Fighter<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The <em>Times<\/em> investigation determined that the car, a white Toyota Corolla, which U.S. officials thought was filled with explosives, was actually carrying canisters of water. And the suspicious stops Ahmadi had made as the U.S. watched him from the sky were stops to pick up colleagues and to make water deliveries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn&#8217;t take the strike because we thought we were wrong. We took the strike because we thought we had a good target,\u201d CENTCOM\u2019s McKenzie said Friday, pointing to what he said were \u201cover 60 very, very high-caliber reports of imminent threat to our forces in and around Kabul,\u201d many centered on the use of a white Toyota Corolla.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClearly our intelligence was wrong on this particular white Toyota Corolla,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. military officials said they still believe there was an IS-Khorasan plot to attack the airport with that type of car from one of the locations where Ahmadi\u2019s Toyota was spotted. But they now believe that attack may have been disrupted by a U.S airstrike days earlier that targeted the terror group\u2019s operatives in Nangarhar province.<\/p>\n<p>McKenzie said the U.S. is now looking into making so-called ex gratia payments to the surviving family members, though he admitted delivering the reparations could be difficult without a U.S. presence on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>The CENTCOM commander declined to say whether any disciplinary action would be taken against those involved in carrying out the strike, saying that the ultimate responsibility lay with him.<\/p>\n<p>Human rights organizations are demanding more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe U.S. must now commit to a full, transparent and impartial investigation into this incident,\u201d said Brian Castner, a senior crisis adviser with Amnesty International.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone suspected of criminal responsibility should be prosecuted in a fair trial,\u201d Castner said in a formal statement. \u201cSurvivors and families of the victims should be kept informed of the progress of the investigation and be given full reparation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The American Civil Liberties Union said the drone strike in Kabul should be \u201ca wake-up call.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this strike, we see the echoes of so many other civilian lives lost and gravely harmed, whether in wars like in Afghanistan, or outside of them, like in Somalia,\u201d Hina Shamsi of the ACLU said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Some U.S. lawmakers are also calling for more to be done.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wsw__embed wsw__embed--small\">\n<figure class=\"media-image js-media-expand js-media-expand--ready\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/gdb.voanews.com\/7ae160d8-e79d-4d58-936f-090bd89a9a43_w250_r1_s.jpg\" alt=\"Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., listens during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, April 15, 2021.\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., listens during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, April 15, 2021.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe Department of Defense has taken the first step towards transparency and accountability,\u201d said Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, in a written statement. He called the deadly drone strike \u201ca devastating failure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to know what went wrong in the hours and minutes leading up to the strike to prevent similar tragedies in the future,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Armed Services Committee will hear from administration officials in the weeks ahead on the chaotic and deadly Afghanistan withdrawal,\u201d Senator James Inhofe, the ranking member of the committee, said in a written statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe August 29 strike shows how difficult and complex counterterrorism operations can be, and unfortunately it highlights that an \u2018over-the-horizon&#8217; strategy will only increase the complexity and difficulty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>There are also questions about the future of any U.S. counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan against groups like IS-Khorasan or al-Qaida, which for now would be conducted \u201cover the horizon\u201d \u2013 from U.S. bases hours away in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>But McKenzie said the rules of engagement for such airstrikes would be different.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will have a lot more opportunity probably than we had under this extreme time pressure to take a look at the target \u2026 to soak the target with multiple platforms to have an opportunity to develop extended pattern of life,\u201d he said. \u201cNone of these things were available to us given the urgent and pressing nature of the imminent threat to our forces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. commander also said that despite their repeated assurances and commitments, the Taliban had done little to help the evacuation aside from establishing an outer security perimeter around Kabul airport that \u201calso allowed them to screen people that might otherwise have gotten to the airfield.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As far as any other help against IS-Khorasan, \u201cI don&#8217;t know that they&#8217;re doing anything at all for us right now,\u201d McKenzie said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VOA \u2014 A drone strike carried out during the waning hours of the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan did not kill a terrorist bent on attacking the international airport in Kabul, and instead killed as many as 10 civilians, including an aid worker and seven children. The admission Friday from the commander of U.S. troops in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latests"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98443"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98446,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98443\/revisions\/98446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}