A U.S. military investigation into a deadly drone strike in Kabul on a vehicle in August has found that 10 civilians and the driver were killed and that the target vehicle may not have been an ISIS-linked threat. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan Province), announced General Frank McKenzie, Senior General of US Central Command, at the Pentagon on Friday, September 17th.
McKenzie told reporters that the attack - from which he said seven children were killed - was a "mistake" and apologized.
"This action was taken with the sincere belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and evacuators at the airport, but it was a mistake and I apologize sincerely," he said.
McKenzie added that he was "fully responsible for this attack and this tragic outcome".
The Pentagon announcement is likely to provoke more criticism of the Biden administration's chaotic evacuation from Kabul and its handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan more broadly. The Pentagon had claimed that at least one ISIS-K member and three civilians were killed in what Commander-in-Chief General Mark Milley had previously called a "right strike" on August 29th. The recently published investigation revealed that all of those killed in the residential complex were civilians.
On the eve of the attack, drone operators observed the yard for 4 to 5 minutes. At that time, a driver got out of the vehicle. One child was parking the vehicle and the other children were present in the car and yard - as CNN was told by the Ahmadi family.
The Army based the strike on a reasonable safety standard to launch the strike on the vehicle. Tragically, it was the wrong vehicle, a U.S. military official familiar with the investigation told CNN.
While acknowledging that the attack "was a terrible mistake", McKenzie said he "would not qualify the whole operation" as a failure.
Reaction to findings
Biden was briefed on the details of the investigation Friday morning, an official said. In a speech last month, the president hailed the attack as an example of U.S. capability. The White House has not yet commented on the findings of the investigation.
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Source: CNN
