US: Pentagon probe finds 'no negligence' in botched Kabul airstrike that killed civilians

Pentagon on Wednesday, 3 November asserted in a report that the drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 innocent civilians, including 7 children, at the time of the chaotic US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan “did not break any laws”. Air Force Lt. Gen. Sami, the service's inspector general who led the Pentagon's investigation, described the tragedy as "an honest mistake,” adding that no single person was responsible for the flawed decisions of bombing a white Sedan with a Hellfire missile launched via Reaper drone on 29 August. The strike conducted by the US military came just a day after the self-proclaimed affiliate of the Islamic State called ISIS-K claimed lives of 13 US Marines and American President Joe Biden vowed ‘revenge’ on the perpetrators. 

The Pentagon reversed its stance about the drone strike during the concluding days of the frantic US withdrawal from Kabul, stating that it was not caused by any misconduct or negligence on part of the US Armed Forces, nor does it need any disciplinary action, Associated Press first learned. According to a senior defense official familiar with the report, Air Force Lieutenant General Sami Said, who was involved in the probe and the process of identifying and confirming the target of the bombing, acknowledged that the mistaken strike happened. He, however, did not label it as an “unlawful” action. 

As per the source that spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a report not yet released, inspector general of the Air Force, Said, has concluded in the report that the drone strike that killed civilians had no direct connection to Afghanistan operations and therefore was deemed an independent judge of the matter. He urged that the operation must be considered independently in the context of the moment, and as the US forces were under extreme stress and information overload due to the deadly suicide bombing, the miscalculations seemingly occurred. 

[Bombed White Sedan in Kabul. Credit: AP]

'Miscommunication among officers': Pentagon concludes

Said also noted that there was miscommunication among the officers responsible for the strike decision, and while the doubts about accuracy were raised the drone strike on the white Toyota Corolla sedan driven by one California-based NGO worker Zemerai Ahmadi, altogether, wasn’t aborted. At least nine family members, other than the 37-year-old, were bombed to death. 

US forces, according to the Pentagon report, genuinely believed the Sedan was an imminent terror threat and the strike was done to avert the vehicle’s route to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. The declassified report, endorsed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, contains recommendations to be conveyed to officers and commanders at US Central Command and US Special Operations Command. It calls for them to prevent what military officials call "confirmation bias”, adding that the troops were too quick to act on the command of the strike, which the Pentagon agrees was aligned with the intelligence. 

The report asked the so-called "red-team" to avoid such errors in the future and improve military procedures of analysis before launching such time-sensitive strikes as the one conducted in Kabul. Report suggests that the US military officials made their initial assessments “too quickly.” Although, it states that there was no observed individual fault. It recommended “discipline” and administrative actions against the officials involved. The US is working to pay financial reparations to the family of the deceased. 

US Central Command Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie concurred US military was 'very wrong'

US Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie had earlier admitted that “as the combatant commander, I am fully responsible for this strike and its tragic outcome" about the miscalculated drone strike in Kabul. United States Armed Forces Central Command [USCENTCOM] had also admitted that the Kabul drone strike that killed the Ahmadi family was “done in error.” US Central Command had obliterated a white Toyota Corolla sedan in Kabul during closing days of evacuations, stating that the vehicle contained ISIS “planner and a facilitator” and explosives intended to bomb the American troops at the Hamid Karzai International Airport. US Central Command Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie concurred that the military, in fact, was “very wrong” as he admitted that the drone strike, in actuality, had killed the civilians. Gen. McKenzie also agreed that the  “secondary explosion” was caused by a propane tank and not ISIS-K bombs.  

“We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or a direct threat to US forces,” US Central Command Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie had said in an footage. 

IMAGE: AP