US review finds August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul airport was unpreventable | US news

The suicide bombing on the Kabul airport that killed US troops and Afghans in August 2021 was not preventable, and a “bald man in black” noticed by US service members on the morning of the assault was not the bomber, in keeping with a brand new overview by US Central Command.

The findings, launched on Monday, refute assertions by some service members who believed that they had an opportunity to take out the would-be bomber however didn’t get approval. And, for the primary time, the USmilitary confirmed that the bomber was Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an Islamic State militant who had been in an Afghan jail however was launched by the Taliban because the group took management of the nation that summer season.

The Abbey Gate bombing through the closing chaotic days of the Afghanistan withdrawal killed 13 US service members and 170 Afghans, and wounded scores extra. It triggered widespread debate and congressional criticism, fueled by emotional testimony from a Marine injured within the blast, who mentioned snipers believed they noticed the potential bomber however couldn’t get approval to take him out.

Former Marine Sgt Tyler Vargas-Andrews instructed the Home international affairs committee final March that Marines and others aiding within the evacuation got descriptions of males believed to be plotting an assault. Vargas-Andrews, who was injured within the blast however not interviewed within the preliminary investigation, mentioned he and others noticed a person matching the outline and may need been capable of cease the assault, however requests to take motion have been denied.

In an in depth briefing to a small variety of reporters, members of the crew that carried out the overview launched photographs of the bald man recognized by army snipers as a possible menace and in contrast them with photographs of al-Logari. The crew members described facial recognition and different evaluation they used confirmed these weren’t the identical man.

“For the previous two years, some service members have claimed that that they had the bomber of their sights they usually may have prevented the assault. We now know that isn’t appropriate,” mentioned a crew member.

They mentioned in addition they confirmed the photograph of the bald man to service members through the newest interviews, and that the troops once more confirmed that was the suspicious man that they had focused.

The overview notes that the bald man was first seen round 7am and that troops overpassed him by 10am. The bombing was greater than seven hours later, and the US says al-Logari didn’t get to Abbey Gate till “very shortly” earlier than the blast occurred.

Members of the family of these killed within the blast acquired comparable briefings over the previous two weekends and a few are nonetheless unconvinced.

“For me, personally, we’re nonetheless not clear. I consider Tyler noticed what Tyler noticed and he is aware of what he noticed. And it was not the man that they have been claiming was the person in black,” Jim McCollum, the daddy of Marine Lance Cpl Rylee McCollum, instructed the Related Press.

Critics have slammed the Biden administration for the catastrophic evacuation, they usually have complained that nobody was held accountable for it. And whereas the US was capable of get greater than 130,000 civilians in another country through the panic after the Taliban took management of the federal government, there have been horrifying photographs of determined Afghans clinging to army plane as they lifted off.