A U.S. airstrike in Kabul on an alleged Islamic State bomber killed an innocent man working for an American aid group and his family, according to testimony and recently released images, which it increased the specter that the Pentagon lied to the public about the strike.
The alleged case of misidentification also tarnishes President Biden for his chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, which left behind hundreds of U.S. citizens and thousands of Afghans at risk.
Zemari Ahmadi and nine members of his family, including seven children, were killed in the airstrike on Aug. 29, a day before the last U.S. evacuation flights from Kabul, his brother Romal Ahmadi told al New York Times.
Ahmadi, who was the apparent target of the strike, worked for 14 years as a technical engineer in Afghanistan for the Nutrition and Education International charity in Pasadena, California, which feeds hungry Afghans.
The aid group had requested that he move to the United States as a refugee.
A new security material at his workplace shows Ahmadi, whose neighborhood had an unreliable water service, filling water containers at his employer’s office at 2:35 p.m. M. shortly before returning home. The Times photographed fire-damaged containers, which were compatible with water containers.
He and his colleagues, who had driven to work, were also carrying laptops that day, according to security footage, possibly explaining the military’s claim that the recipient’s Toyota Corolla contained carefully wrapped packages.
The Times responded to the Pentagon’s claim that secondary explosions showed that the Hellfire missile from the US drone Reaper fired explosive materials.
The aged walls near Ahmadi’s car were not torn down by the airstrike or any subsequent explosion.
Three gun experts told the Times there was no evidence of a secondary explosion because there were no blown walls or destroyed vegetation near the burned car. A small crater under the car was compatible with a Hellfire missile, experts said.
The Pentagon initially presented the airstrike as a successful mission to prevent another bombing at Kabul airport after 13 members of the U.S. service and at least 169 Afghans were killed in an alleged Islamic State suicide attack on 26 of August.
“The procedures were followed correctly and it was a fair strike,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chief of staff, said afterwards.
Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said: “U.S. military forces today carried out an air strike on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat at the international airport. “We are confident that we have successfully achieved the goal. Significant secondary explosions in the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.”
The military had had ample leeway to attack suspected terrorists without the approval of the presidency after the airport bombing, despite constant reports of civilian casualties related to U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan.
A day after the attack on the airport, the U.S. military said on August 27 it killed two alleged members of the Islamic State group in eastern Afghanistan by a drone strike, all and that the Biden administration has refused to disclose their names.
Two days later, the American drone killed Ahmadi in Kabul.
President Biden spoke with approval of the U.S. strikes in Afghanistan on Aug. 31 in a speech marking the end of the U.S.’s nearly 20-year intervention.
“We attacked ISIS-K remotely, days after they killed 13 of our military and dozens of innocent Afghans. And to ISIS-K: We are not done with you yet,” Biden told the White House state dining hall.
The Times reports that drone operators were not guarding Ahmadi’s house before the airstrike, but followed what they believed was his vehicle during the day. The newspaper noted that shortly after the strike, ISIS militants used a white Toyota Corolla (the same model as Ahmadi’s car) to launch missiles at Kabul airport.
The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said: “The US Central Command continues to evaluate the results of the airstrike in Kabul on August 29. We will not advance this assessment. However, as we have said, no other In addition, as President Milley said, the strike was based on good intelligence and we still believe it avoided an imminent threat to the airport and to our men. and women still serving at the airport. “