bourbiza mohamed
WASHINGTON — The suicide bombing on the Kabul airport that killed U.S. troops and Afghans in August 2021 — together with a Marine from Utah — was not preventable, and the “bald man in black” noticed by U.S. service members the morning of the assault was not the bomber, based on a brand new overview by U.S. Central Command.
The findings launched Monday, refute assertions by some service members who believed they’d an opportunity to take out the would-be bomber however didn’t get approval. And, for the primary time, the U.S. navy is confirming that the bomber was Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State militant who had been in an Afghan jail however was launched by the Taliban because the group took management of the nation that summer time.
The Abbey Gate bombing through the remaining chaotic days of the Afghanistan withdrawal killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans, and wounded scores extra. Marine Workers Sgt. Taylor Hoover, 31, of Utah was main his fellow Marines when the bombing killed him and 12 others.
The incident triggered widespread debate and congressional criticism, fueled by emotional testimony from a Marine injured within the blast, who mentioned snipers believed they noticed the doable bomber however could not get approval to take him out.
Former Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews instructed the Home Overseas Affairs Committee final March that Marines and others aiding within the evacuation got descriptions of males believed to be plotting an assault. Vargas-Andrews, who was injured within the blast however not interviewed within the preliminary investigation, mentioned he and others noticed a person matching the outline and might need been capable of cease the assault, however requests to take motion had been denied.
In an in depth briefing to a small variety of reporters, members of the staff that did the overview launched pictures of the bald man recognized by navy snipers as a possible risk and in contrast it with pictures of al-Logari. The staff members, who spoke to reporters on situation of anonymity to supply particulars not but made public, described facial recognition and different evaluation they used that they mentioned confirmed these weren’t the identical man.
For the previous two years, some service members have claimed that they’d the bomber of their sights and so they might have prevented the assault. We now know that’s not right.
–Group member
“For the previous two years, some service members have claimed that they’d the bomber of their sights and so they might have prevented the assault. We now know that’s not right,” mentioned a staff member.
They mentioned additionally they confirmed the picture of the bald man to service members through the newest interviews, and that the troops once more confirmed that was the suspicious man they’d focused.
The overview notes that the bald man was first seen round 7 a.m. and that troops overpassed him by 10 a.m. The bombing was greater than seven hours later, and the U.S. says al-Logari did not get to Abbey Gate till “very shortly” earlier than the blast came about. They declined to be extra particular in regards to the timing, saying particulars are labeled.
Relations of these killed within the blast acquired comparable briefings over the previous two weekends and a few are nonetheless unconvinced.
“For me, personally, we’re nonetheless not clear. I imagine Tyler noticed what Tyler noticed and he is aware of what he noticed. And it was not the man that they had been claiming was the person in black,” Jim McCollum, the daddy of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, instructed The Related Press.
He mentioned the staff went into “fairly good element, not making an attempt to discredit Tyler, however successfully saying he was unsuitable. Nonetheless, that ended up being as clear as mud to us.”
And Mark Schmitz, the daddy of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, questioned the picture itself.
“They saved saying that is who Tyler Vargas-Andrews was and we had been pondering to ourselves, ‘effectively, that is attention-grabbing. Why is that this an image of an image from a Canon digital camera?'” he mentioned. “To me, it felt like they had been looking for the man in these cameras which will have come near trying like anyone of curiosity that they’ll attempt to promote to us.”
The households, nonetheless, additionally mentioned they had been relieved to get extra particulars about their family members’ deaths, saying the preliminary briefings weren’t nearly as good.
Schmitz mentioned that Military Gen. Eric Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, was a part of the most recent briefing and apologized for a way the households had been handled through the preliminary probe. This time round officers had been capable of share with Schmitz for the primary time precisely the place his son was when the bomb went off and that he was unconscious virtually instantly, and due to this fact didn’t really feel the influence of the shrapnel that went by his left torso, hitting a major artery.
“That to me was, before everything, the very best information I might have gotten,” Schmitz mentioned. “That gave me just a little little bit of closure that my son did not undergo, which made me really feel actually good.”
Group members mentioned additionally they are planning to talk with the troops who had been interviewed this time to share the outcomes of the report.
They mentioned the overview additionally couldn’t utterly rule out claims that militants did a take a look at run of the bombing a number of days earlier. However after reviewing pictures and different intelligence, the staff concluded it was unlikely that three males seen carrying a big bag — which troops deemed suspicious — had been doing a trial run.
Extra broadly, the staff mentioned the overview introduced some new particulars to mild, together with extra dialogue in regards to the doable bombing take a look at run. However they mentioned total it confirmed the findings of U.S. Central Command’s preliminary investigation into the bombing: that it was not preventable and that experiences of threats previous to the bombing had been too imprecise.
For example, the brand new overview famous that risk experiences talked a few doable bomber with groomed hair, sporting unfastened garments, and carrying a black bag. That description, the overview mentioned, might have matched anybody within the huge crowd desperately making an attempt to get into the airport.
The staff mentioned they carried out 52 interviews for the overview — including as much as a complete of 190 when the earlier investigation is included. Service members had been requested about 64 questions, and the classes lasted between one hour and 7 hours lengthy.
Quite a lot of these questioned weren’t included within the unique investigation, many as a result of they had been severely wounded within the assault. The brand new overview was ordered final September by Kurilla, largely as a consequence of criticism of the preliminary investigation and assertions that the lethal assault might have been stopped.
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