The US drone strike that killed ten Afghan civilians, including seven children, in Kabul on August 29 was a tragic mistake but did not violate the laws of war, the Pentagon said Wednesday (November 3) after an internal investigation.
“The investigation did not identify any violation of the law, including the law of war”, said Lt. Gen. Sami Said, a defense ministry official, in a report. “Execution errors combined with confirmation bias and communication breakdowns resulted in regrettable civilian casualties”, he added.
In front of the press at the Pentagon, Lt. Gen. Said insisted that it was a ” fault “, not a behavior “Criminal, random or negligent”. The people involved have “Believed at the time that they were targeting an imminent threat”, three days after an attack by the local branch of the Islamic State organization, the IS-K, which killed thirteen American soldiers and a hundred Afghans near the Kabul airport, he said in his report.
Bad car
The strike was carried out in the midst of the chaotic withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan. On August 29, the US military destroyed a white Toyota Corolla vehicle, claiming it was “Loaded with explosives” and claiming to have thus foiled an attempted attack by ISIS. But the family of the driver of the vehicle, Ezmarai Ahmadi, reported that he was employed by an NGO and that ten people, including seven children, were killed. US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin presented his “Sincere condolences” and his “Apologies” for this burr.
“The intended target of the strike – the vehicle, its contents and its occupant – was in good faith assessed at the time as an imminent threat to US forces ”, according to the investigation report. This assessment “Was unfortunately inaccurate”, according to the text. Corn “The threats to the American forces at the airport were very high at the time”, he justifies.
Lieutenant-General Said explained that the US military had information on an imminent IS-K attack, and more specifically on a white Toyota Corolla containing explosives of the type used three days earlier. But the US military followed the wrong car. “In fact, we never followed the good Toyota Corolla”, he admitted.
29 respondents
In addition, the military believed that the building next to which the strike was carried out was empty. None of those responsible for analyzing the satellite images noticed a child entering the surveillance zone two minutes before the strike.
Finally, the US military came to the conclusion that the deadly attack of August 26 was carried out with a bomb hidden in a computer bag. When they saw two men exchange a computer bag three days later, they immediately thought the men they were following were IS-K. “In fact, it was just a simple computer bag. “
They were victims, according to the military official, of “Confirmation bias”, the tendency to draw conclusions consistent with what one thinks probable. In particular, the report recommends reviewing the procedures preceding the strikes to assess the presence of civilians.
During the investigation by Lieutenant-General Said, 29 people, including 22 “Directly involved in the strike”, were questioned under oath.