The Pentagon’s top leaders acknowledged they knew within hours that an Aug. 29 airstrike in Kabul killed innocent civilians, claiming U.S. Central Command quickly admitted so, but the Defense Department repeatedly declined to confirm civilian casualties in the days after the strike.
The revelation came during a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday in which Rep. Trent Kelly, a Mississippi Republican, grilled Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, and CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie about the strike, which the United States admitted three weeks later killed as many as 10 civilians, including an Afghan aid worker and seven children, as opposed to an ISIS-K terrorist.
The trio confirmed they all knew within hours the strike had killed civilians, yet the Pentagon did not admit that until long after.
Austin said he learned civilians had been killed “several hours after” the strike when it was reported to him by McKenzie. Milley said it was the “same thing” for him, and added, “We knew that civilians were killed, we knew that noncombatants, and there was collateral damage.”
“Well, so, we knew the strike hit civilians within four or five hours after the strike occurred, and U.S. Central Command released a press release saying that,” McKenzie said. “We did not know, though, that the target of the strike was in fact in error, a mistake, until sometime later. It took us a few days to run that down.”
But it is not true that CENTCOM issued a press release confirming the airstrike hit civilians.
GENERAL TRIES TO DISTANCE BOTCHED KABUL AIRSTRIKE FROM OVER-THE-HORIZON STRATEGY
CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Bill Urban released an initial statement on Aug. 29 saying, “U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamad Karzai International airport. We are confident we successfully hit the target.” Urban added, “We are assessing the possibilities of civilian casualties, though we have no indications at this time.”
Later that day, the CENTCOM spokesman released an “UPDATE,” in which he said, “We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul today,” claiming that “a large amount of explosive material inside” the car “may have caused additional casualties.” He added, “It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further. We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life.” The statement did not confirm civilian injuries or deaths.
The next morning, on Aug. 30, Maj. Gen. William Taylor said, “We are aware of reports of civilian casualties, and we take these reports very seriously, and we are continuing to assess the situation.”
A U.S. military investigation concluded that the strike actually killed an aid worker and many of his family members, and McKenzie announced the results of the investigation nearly three weeks later. In addition to confirming civilian deaths, McKenzie added at the time, “We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to U.S. forces.”
The botched strike took place days after an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated a device killing 13 U.S. service members and more than 170 Afghans outside the gates of the Kabul airport.
Milley himself was asked on Sept. 1 about the potential that numerous civilians had been killed in the airstrike, and he acknowledged that multiple people had been killed in the strike but did not admit they were civilians, saying, “At least one of those people that were killed was an ISIS facilitator. So were there others killed? Yes, there are others killed. Who they are, we don’t know.” He called it “a righteous strike.”
A couple of days prior to the disastrous Kabul airstrike, the Pentagon said that two “high-profile” Islamic State targets who allegedly helped facilitate bombings were killed in a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province.
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President Joe Biden’s speech on Aug. 31 made no mention of civilian casualties when he said, “We have what’s called over-the-horizon capabilities, which means we can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground — or very few, if needed. We’ve shown that capacity just in the last week. We struck ISIS-K remotely, days after they murdered 13 of our service members and dozens of innocent Afghans.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was also repeatedly pressed on the possibility of civilian casualties in the days following the Kabul airstrike.
Psaki said on Aug. 30, “I can’t speak to or confirm the numbers or cases of civilian casualties in this case,” and, “I would say the fact that we have had two successful strikes confirmed by CENTCOM tells you that our over-the-horizon capacity works and is working.” When asked again about civilian casualties the next day, Psaki said, “There is an investigation, and I don’t believe the military or CENTCOM has spoken to or confirmed what has been some reporting out there by news organizations.”
