Another failure of Biden administration: Kabul drone strike that killed 10 was ‘a mistake’ says Central Command head
The Pentagon has now revealed that a reckless drone strike killed an innocent humanitarian worker and seven children, highlighting the Biden administration’s egregious intelligence failure.
When contrasted to previous reporting on how relief worker Zemari Ahmadi spent his day in Kabul on August 29, a detailed schedule given by the Pentagon on Friday illustrates the erroneous assumptions and massive errors that led to the disaster.
Ahmadi, 43, worked for Nutrition and Education International, a US-based charity organisation, and US officials now say he appears to have no ties to ISIS-K fighters. It appears that driving a white 1996 Toyota Corolla was his deadly blunder.
Following a suicide attack at the Kabul airport that killed 13 US troops, US officials obtained intelligence that just such a vehicle was involved in plotting another attack, according to Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the director of US Central Command, who spoke at a briefing on Friday afternoon.
At 4.53 p.m., a Hellfire missile exploded inside the Corolla. Ahmadi and three of his children, Zamir, 20, Faisal, 16, and Farzad, ten years old, were killed, as were Ahmadi’s cousin Naser, thirty, three of Ahmadi’s nephews, Arwin, seven, Benyamin, six, and Hayat, two, and two three-year-old girls, Malika and Somaya.
A subsequent explosion, according to the Pentagon, proved that the Corolla was transporting explosive materials. McKenzie testified on Friday that the missile most likely burned a propane tank near the automobile, resulting in a massive fireball visible from a drone.
‘A few slightly covered forms were momentarily spotted moving in the compound,’ McKenzie alleged after reviewing the drone footage.
McKenzie apologised for the blunder and stated that the US is considering making restitution payments to the victims’ families.
‘I am now confident that up to ten civilians were tragically killed in that strike, including up to seven children,’ McKenzie added. ‘Moreover, we currently believe that the vehicle and those who died were not connected to ISIS-K or posed a direct threat to US forces,’ he continued.
