Pentagon Releases First Footage of Botched Kabul Airstrike

Zachary StieberJanuary 20, 2022

Department of Defense officials have made public for the first time footage of an airstrike that left 10 civilians dead in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 29, 2021.

Military officials initially said the strike targeted a member of the ISIS terrorist group after the group was accused of having attacked the U.S.-held Kabul airport with suicide bombers, killing 13 American troops and over 100 Afghan nationals.

They later said a review found the target, aid worker Ezmarai Ahmadi, was not involved with the group.

The footage was captured by drones hovering over Ahmadi’s home before launching the strike.

The footage includes the aftermath of the explosion, which decimated a vehicle in the home’s driveway.

U.S. Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, apologized for the botched strike last year, alleging it “was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport.”

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Officials told Congress that they learned within hours that the strike killed innocent people, contradicting earlier statements that said there were no indications of civilian casualties.

U.S. officials later offered to pay and relocate relatives of those killed, all of whom were identified as being related to Ahmadi. Officials also declined to discipline anybody over the strike, a review of which found no war crimes.

Under the direction of President Joe Biden, the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan following a 20-year occupation, completing the withdrawal in August of 2021.

The tumultuous operation concluded despite hundreds of U.S. citizens and green card holders still being in the country and left the Taliban terrorist group in control after they routed U.S.-backed Afghan forces.