A new Pentagon review of the events leading up to the bombing that killed 13 American soldiers at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021 has confirmed previous findings that U.S. troops could not have prevented the deadly violence.
The review’s conclusions focus on the final days and hours at Abbey Gate before the attack, which also killed up to 170 civilians. The review provides new details about the Islamic State assassin who carried out the suicide mission, including how he slipped into the crowd as he tried to evacuate the capital’s airport just moments before detonating the explosives.
Some Marines who were at the gate said they identified the suspected bomber – who became known to investigators as the “Bald Man in Black” – in the crowd hours before the attack, but were twice denied permission by their superiors to shoot him. But the review, which built on an earlier investigation published in February 2022, dismissed these allegations.
The narrative of missed opportunities to avert tragedy has gained traction among conservatives over the past year, contributing to broader Republican criticism of the Biden administration’s troop withdrawal and evacuation from Kabul in August 2021.
The bombing was a drastic experience for the military after 20 years of war in Afghanistan. Thirteen flag-draped caskets were flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and a number of funerals were held across the country for the service members, most of whom were under 25 years old.
Military officials maintained the earlier investigation’s conclusions that a lone Islamic State suicide bomber carried out the attack and that there were no accomplices who fired into the crowd.
But under increasing political pressure to resolve discrepancies in the Marines’ earlier review and reports at the gate – which included reports that the Islamic State had conducted a test run of the bombing – a team of Army and Marine Corps officers questioned more than 50 people who were not interviewed the first time.
One of the main problems was the identity of the bomber. Almost immediately after the attack, the Islamic State identified him as Abdul Rahman Al-Logari. American and other Western intelligence analysts later compiled evidence that led them to the same conclusion.
American officials said at the time that Mr. Logari was a former engineering student who was one of several thousand militants freed from at least two high-security prisons after the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15, 2021. The Taliban emptied the facilities. They indiscriminately released not only their own imprisoned members, but also fighters from ISIS Khorasan, or ISIS-K, the terrorist organization’s Afghan branch and the Taliban’s arch enemy.
Mr. Logari was no stranger to Americans. In 2017, the CIA tipped off Indian intelligence agents that he was planning a suicide attack in New Delhi, U.S. officials said. Indian authorities foiled the attack and handed Mr. Logari over to the CIA, which sent him to Afghanistan to serve a sentence in Parwan Prison at Bagram Air Base. He remained there until he was freed amid the chaos that followed the fall of Kabul.
At the airport, investigators said, the bomber detonated a 20-pound explosive, likely carried in a backpack or vest, and sprayed 5-millimeter ball bearings in a powerful explosion that was captured in grainy video images shown to Pentagon reporters became.
All of this was known to Navy and Army officials when they began their supplemental review last September. But they were tasked with answering the outstanding questions.
On the day of the bombing, Marines at the gate were instructed to look for a man with well-groomed hair, loose clothing and a black bag of explosives. After further interviews and reviewing surveillance camera footage and other photos of the chaotic scene, the review team concluded that the description was not specific enough to meaningfully narrow the search.
But Marines later reported to the gate and said they had seen a person matching the description of the suicide bomber around 7 a.m. The Marines said the man was acting suspiciously and they urgently warned leaders and asked for permission to shoot. Their application was rejected twice, they said.
The investigative team concluded that the Marines had linked the intelligence reports to an earlier sighting of a man wearing beige clothing and carrying a black bag. The team also reviewed a photo of the suspect taken by one of the sniper team’s cameras.
The man in question did not actually match the description, the review team concluded. He was bald, wore black clothes and did not have a black bag with him. Additionally, photos taken of Mr. Logari while in American custody did not match the suspect’s photos, even after facial recognition software was deployed.
“Al-Logari and ‘Bald Man in Black’ received the strongest negative result,” concluded a slide from the supplemental review team’s findings shared with reporters.
Additionally, the review team concluded that Mr. Logari only arrived at Abbey Gate on August 26 “immediately before” the attack, minimizing his chances of being detected by the Marines.
The review team went through a similar process to rule out sightings of specific individuals who the Marines suspected had carried out a dry run of the eventual attack.
Members of the review team did not question the motives or commitment of the Marines who asked the vexing questions. But in the end, the review team concluded that the Marines were wrong.
As traumatic as the bombing was, it is perhaps not surprising that the memories and conclusions of the Marines and soldiers that day, however sincere, have not been confirmed by subsequent investigations.
The findings of the original Army-led investigation in February 2022 contradicted initial reports from senior U.S. commanders that militants had fired on crowds at the airport trying to flee the Afghan capital, causing some of the casualties.
Accounts of what happened immediately after the attack – from the Pentagon and from people on the ground – changed several times. Defense Ministry officials initially said nearby Islamic State Khorasan fighters had begun firing weapons. Turns out that wasn’t true.
Some people near the scene said the Marines fired indiscriminately into the crowd, apparently believing they were under fire. According to the military’s central command, this was also not true, although investigators said British and American forces fired warning shots into the air.
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2024-04-15 11:00:06
www.nytimes.com
