He was proud of it but would not say what for, because like nearly everything he did in the drone program, it was a secret. The 32-year-old pilot kept a handwritten thank-you note on his refrigerator from the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He flew the heavily armed MQ-9 Reaper, and in 650 combat missions between 20, he had launched at least 188 airstrikes, earned 20 medals for achievement and killed a top man on the United States’ most-wanted-terrorist list. He was clinging to an assault rifle with 30 rounds and a conviction that, after all he had been through, there was no way he was going to prison.Ĭaptain Larson was a drone pilot - one of the best. Kevin Larson crouched behind a boulder and watched the forest through his breath, waiting for the police he knew would come. After hiding all night in the mountains, Air Force Capt. "I don't think you should draw any conclusions about our ability to strike in Afghanistan against ISIS-K targets in the future based on this particular strike," he said.REDWOOD VALLEY, Calif. McKenzie played down the impact the latest civilian casualties would have on future actions in Afghanistan. These include whether the United States can keep track of al Qaeda and Islamic State threats, and act quickly on any information it gets. Still, the intelligence failure exposed in America's last military strike of its war in Afghanistan raises hard questions about the risks going forward. defense official told Reuters, adding Austin himself will have to authorize any future strikes. The authority to carry out strikes in Afghanistan - against al Qaeda or Islamic State - will not rest any more with U.S. "In a dynamic high threat environment, the commanders on the ground had the appropriate authority and had reasonable certainty that the target was valid," Milley said. General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared to blame the fog of war, even as he acknowledged in a statement that the civilian deaths were "heart wrenching". military was on heightened alert, with officials warning they expected more attacks on the airport, including from rockets and vehicle-borne explosive devices, as the Pentagon wrapped up its mission. The second, mistaken strike came as the U.S. military launched a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan that it said killed two Islamic State militants. troops and scores of Afghan civilians who had crowded outside the airport gates, desperate to secure seats on evacuation flights, after U.S.-trained Afghan forces melted away and the Taliban swept to power in the capital.įollowing the suicide bombing at the airport, the U.S. The strike came three days after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. A spokesman for Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers, Zabihullah Mujahid, said at the time that the attack killed seven people, and that the Taliban was investigating. Video from the scene showed the wreckage of a car strewn around the courtyard of a building. Reports had emerged almost immediately that the drone strike in a neighborhood west of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport had killed civilians including children.
military does publish reports on civilians killed in operations around the world. While it is rare for senior Pentagon officials, including the defense secretary, to apologize personally for civilians killed in military strikes, the U.S. "We apologize, and we will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake." Ahmadi and ISIS-Khorasan, that his activities on that day were completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced," Austin said in the statement. "We now know that there was no connection between Mr. Ahmadi who worked for a non-profit called Nutrition and Education International. In a statement, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the drone strike had killed a Mr.
withdrawal and evacuation of Afghan allies, which has generated the biggest crisis yet for the Biden administration. counter-terrorism strikes in the country, where intelligence gathering has been all but choked off since last month's withdrawal.Īnd the confirmation of civilian deaths provides further fuel to critics of the chaotic U.S.
The killing of civilians, in a strike carried out by a drone based outside Afghanistan, has raised questions about the future of U.S. The Pentagon was considering reparations, McKenzie said. He said he now believed it unlikely that those killed were members of the local Islamic State affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan, or posed a threat to U.S. "Our investigation now concludes that the strike was a tragic mistake," McKenzie told reporters. Central Command, Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie, said that at the time he had been confident it averted an imminent threat to the forces at the airport.
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