They thought they were hitting members of the Islamic State organization in Khorassan (EI-K) and “Remove an imminent threat” three days after the suicide bomber attack at Kabul airport, from which thousands of people had tried to flee Afghanistan since the Taliban took power. The US military involved in the drone strike that killed ten civilians, including seven children, on August 29 will not be punished, the Pentagon announced on Monday (December 13).
“There were not enough solid elements to retain personal responsibilities”Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. The decision regarding the strike in the last days of the US presence in Afghanistan was taken by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after a report by two senior officers, General Kenneth McKenzie and General Richard Clarke.
The first is the head of Centcom, the US central command responsible, among other things, for the Middle East. The second is the chief of special operations. Neither officer made a recommendation for individual sanctions, Kirby said.
Compensating the families of victims
The United States has offered to financially compensate the relatives of Afghan civilians killed by ” error “ by this American fire, the Pentagon spokesman announced on October 15. On November 3, the Pentagon claimed that the strike in Kabul was a tragic mistake, but that it did not violate the laws of war. “The investigation did not identify any violation of the law, including the law of war”, said in a report Lieutenant General Sami Said, an official in the Ministry of Defense.
This strike was carried out the day before the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, which took place on August 30, after twenty years of presence in the country. It was the longest war in US history.
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