As President Joe Biden continues his Delaware vacation, the country’s top generals have just confirmed that the recent drone strike aimed at ISIS terrorists in Afghanistan was a “tragic mistake.” The drone strike was sent on Aug. 29 by military planners and left three adults and seven children dead, all of whom were not associated with ISIS-K or a direct threat to US forces. The strike was originally intended to prevent a potential car-bomb attack against civilians at the capital’s international airport.
General Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S Central Command, announced that their investigation concludes the drone strike as a “tragic mistake.” He said it is unlikely that the drone strike targeted or killed anyone related to ISIS, adding that he is fully responsible for the killing of innocent civilians. He pushed back on a reporter’s characterization that the strike was a “complete and utter failure,” adding that they conducted a previous strike killing two ISIS-K targets and inuring a third.
“This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology,” Mckenzie said.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III also put in a lengthy statement that he offers his “deepest condolences” to surviving family members of those who were killed. He acknowledged the death of Mr. Ahmadi and the staff of Nutrition and Education International, adding that they found no connection between Mr. Ahmadi and ISIS-Khorasan.
Austin went on to say that they found no connection between his activity and the threats they believed they faced and that he was “just as innocent a victim” as the others who were tragically killed that day. He went on to say how U.S intelligence officials felt that the strike was “reasonably certain” against ISIS and with no indication that it would result in civilian casualties.
The drone strike occurred just a few days after a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S service members near the Kabul airport. At first, the Pentagon claimed that the strike killed at least one ISIS-K member and a vehicle with explosives inside. Reports, later on, suggested that the U.S did not hit its intended target and that the drone strike launched by the military didn’t know “whom it was hitting.” They state it is “unlikely” that the vehicle and those that died were a threat to any U.S forces.
Fox News Pentagon reporter Lucas Tomlinson went on to tweet that no disciplinary action is expected and that the US military will stand with its intel officials leading the strike. He went on to emphasize how it was not a rushed strike but that they are exploring the possibility of ex gratia payments for the family members of those killed.
Even CENCOM admits that they are “unclear what may have happened” after the strike, adding that President Joe Biden only vowed revenge for the Kabul bombing. At this point, the Biden Administration is flipping a coin on their foreign policy decisions and just going with it. While the woke military officials of the White House clean up the mess of bombing innocent civilians, the commander-in-chief is enjoying his vacation.
