Afghanistan: US media cast doubt on Kabul drone strike
One of the final deadly strikes by the US in its 20-year war in Afghanistan has been challenged by investigations in leading US media.
The New York Times and Washington Post say the strike the US said targeted an Islamic State operative actually killed an aid worker on daily duties in Kabul.
They say their evidence undermines US military reports that explosives in the targeted car caused a secondary blast.
The Pentagon said it still believed it prevented an “imminent threat”.
The strike on the vehicle on 29 August by a Hellfire missile fired from a Reaper drone killed 10 members of one family, including six children, relatives told the BBC.
The US military was on high alert as, three days earlier, a suicide bomber had killed more than 100 civilians and 13 US troops outside Kabul airport as civilians and officials were evacuated amid the Taliban’s takeover of the capital.
The 20-year mission for foreign troops ended with a final US flight out on 30 August.
The Times and the Post analysed video and photographic evidence, spoke to experts and witnesses, and both concluded that the evidence suggested there were no explosives in the vehicle.
The target
The US military has said it did not know the identity of the man targeted prior to the strike but that he was believed to be associated with the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Mark Milley, at the time called it a “righteous strike”.
The Post and Times confirm the target was Ezmarai Ahmadi, 43, who worked for the California-based Nutrition and Education International (NEI) aid group and was applying for resettlement in the US.
The Times reports that the US military believed it was tracking a white sedan from an IS safe-house and intercepted communications that led to several suspicious stops that involved collection and delivery of items.
One collection, US officials say, appeared to be heavy packages that might contain explosives.
The paper says it has studied security footage that shows Ahmadi was picking up laptops and also water canisters – as there was a shortage of water – which a colleague said was a typical day.
Agencies