The Pentagon has reversed its stance on the 29 August drone strike against suspected Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan (ISIS-K) terrorists, saying it killed ten civilians, including seven children.
Calling the strike a “tragic mistake,” United States (US) Central Command Chief General Kenneth McKenzie on Friday said it was “unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to US forces.”
The announcement came as the Pentagon reviewed the strike following reports that it had resulted in civilian deaths and that the driver of the targeted car was an employee at an American humanitarian organisation.
LIVE: @PentagonPresSec John F. Kirby and @CENTCOM commander, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., hold a news briefing at the Pentagon. https://t.co/qSwXqCVfoo
— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) September 17, 2021
McKenzie said that, having “thoroughly reviewed the findings of the investigation and the supporting analysis by interagency partners,” he was now convinced that civilians were “tragically killed” in the strike. Although he offered “condolences to the family and friends of those killed,” the General noted that the intelligence provided at the time led the US officials to believe “the strike would have averted a threat to US military forces” evacuating civilians at the Kabul airport.
He added that the officials believed the male driver was an Islamic State militant after observing the vehicle for more than eight hours. “While in the compound, the vehicle was observed being approached by a single adult male assessed at the time to be a co-conspirator. The strike was executed at this time because the vehicle was stationary, and to reduce the potential for civilian casualties,” McKenzie said.
According to accounts of the victim’s family members, the car driver was Ezmerai Ahmadi, an Afghan national who worked for the Americans for years and was trying to obtain visas to the US for his family, fearing revenge from the Taliban.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin III offered his “deepest condolences to surviving family members of those killed,” including Ahmadi. “We now know that there was no connection between Mr Ahmadi and ISIS-Khorasan, that his activities on that day were completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced,” Austin said. He added, “No military works harder than ours to avoid civilian casualties. When we have reason to believe we have taken an innocent life, we investigate it and, if true, we admit it.”
However, the families of the victims and survivors of the strike were unconvinced with the US apologies. Emal Ahmadi, one of the attack survivors, who lost his three-year-old daughter in the strike, demanded punishment for those responsible. On Saturday, Emal told The Associated Press that the US should investigate who fired the drone and punish them.
The US military launched a drone strike on August 29 against what it said was a vehicle carrying an ISIS-K planner on his way to attack American forces and Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport. The strikes were conducted after US President Joe Biden vowed to “hunt” down those responsible for the Kabul airport bombings that killed almost 200 people, including 13 American soldiers.