Washington:: A top general admitted the United States had made a “mistake” when it launched a drone strike against suspected Islamic State militants in Kabul, killing 10 civilians including children instead during the frenzied final days of the US pullout from Afghanistan last month.
The strike, a macabre coda to the 20-year US war in Afghanistan, was meant to target a suspected Daesh operation that US intelligence had “reasonable certainty” aimed to attack the Kabul airport, said US Central Command commander General Kenneth McKenzie.
Taliban say US will have ‘no right’ to carry out attacks in Afghanistan after Aug 31
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologised to the relatives of those killed in a statement.
“I offer my deepest condolences to surviving family members of those who were killed,” Austin said in a statement. “We apologize, and we will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake,” he said. McKenzie said the government was studying on how payments for damages could be made to the families of those killed.
– White Toyota Corolla –
The general said that on August 29 US forces had tracked a white Toyota for eight hours after seeing it at a site in Kabul that intelligence had identified as a location from which Daesh operatives were believed to be preparing attacks on the Kabul airport.
Intelligence reports had led US forces to watch for a white Toyota Corolla that the group was allegedly using, he said.
“We selected this car based on its movement at a known target area of interest to us,” McKenzie said. “Clearly our intelligence was wrong on this particular white Toyota,” he said.
The drone strike killed 10 people, including seven children, according to McKenzie, none of who ultimately were linked to Daesh.
McKenzie defended the US operation as in “self-defense strike” amid concerns about an attack on the airport in the last days of the chaotic evacuation.
“We now know that there was no connection between Mr. Ahmadi and Daesh,” said Austin.
He said Ahmadi’s activities that day were “completely harmless,” and that the man was “just as innocent a victim as were the others tragically killed.”
Ahmadi’s brother Aimal told AFP that the car had been filled with children pretending that the parking routine was an adventure.
“The rocket came and hit the car full of kids inside our house,” he said. AFP
