By Daniel L. Davis
On August 26, an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 182 people in a blast outside the Kabul, Afghanistan airport – including 13 U.S. service members. Three days later, Central Command announced they had killed an ISIS-K terrorist via drone who had been planning another attack at the airport. Subsequent reporting, however, revealed the strike had instead killed an innocent civilian – along with nine others, seven of whom were children.
Though tragic mistakes do happen in combat zones, further investigations have revealed this incident was less an isolated case of a strike gone wrong, and more a pattern of shoddy work by senior U.S. leaders. For the good of our nation and the reputation of the U.S. Armed Forces, the government should hold someone accountable for what we now know was an avoidable tragedy.
Defenders of the drone attack have argued that the mistake was understandable given the highly chaotic and uncertain atmosphere in effect at the time of the strike. The Taliban had taken over Kabul, the Afghan government had totally collapsed, and already a massive suicide bombing had killed nearly 200 people at the airport. Under those circumstances, there was enormous pressure on military commanders to complete the withdrawal – scheduled for completion shortly after sunset on 30 August – and prevent any further suicide bombing attacks.
This piece was originally published in 1945 on February 1, 2022. Read more HERE.