Washington: The individual believed by the United States to be the mastermind behind the attack at Kabul’s international airport on U.S. troops withdrawing from Afghanistan in August 2021 was killed by the Taliban, U.S. media reported Tuesday, citing administration officials.
According to multiple media reports, the United States identified the suspect as a leader within extremist group Islamic State’s Afghan branch known as ISIS-K, but didn’t name the individual and refused to reveal how this person was killed, for fear that doing so would jeopardize U.S. intelligence-gathering capability in the region.
The individual was “the mastermind of the horrific attack” on Aug. 26, 2021 that killed 13 U.S. service members as well as more than 100 Afghan civilians. John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, was quoted by CNN as saying, referring to it as one of a “series of high-profile leadership losses” that ISIS-K has suffered this year.
The United States was not involved in the Taliban’s operation, nor was it notified by the Taliban about the death, the reports said. Confirmation of the person’s death and identity was based on the United States’ own intelligence gathering.
The administration reportedly began calling relatives of the U.S. troops killed in the suicide bombing to inform them of the suspect’s death, but its refusal to disclose further details left one relative frustrated.
“They couldn’t give me his name; they couldn’t tell me the details of the operation,” Darin Hoover, the father of Taylor Hoover of the U.S. Marine Corps, was quoted by The New York Times as saying. Dissatisfied about the inadequate information he got from the government, Hoover said the call left him feeling “frustrated, again.”
That the suspect was not killed in a U.S. operation is proof of the limits of the United States’ ability to carry out such operations in Afghanistan following the chaotic pullout of its troops in 2021, which is still a topic of fierce debate domestically.
The death of the suspect “doesn’t absolve the administration or the State Department or the Pentagon from taking responsibility or accountability for what happened, Hoover was quoted by CNN as saying. They haven’t stepped up and said we messed this up and it won’t happen again.”
“And I personally think it can happen again,” he added.
The biggest blunder by the United States following the Kabul airport attack happened just three days later. Fearing that another attack targeting U.S. forces was imminent, U.S. officials launched a drone strike on Aug. 29, 2021, hitting a white Toyota the officials believed at the time was loaded with explosives.
It later became clear that what were inside the car turned out to be water containers, and that those killed by the U.S. Hellfire missile were not terrorists, but 10 innocent Afghan civilians, including seven children.
