U.S. says drone kills ISIS bombers in Kabul
KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate Sunday before they could attack the ongoing military evacuation at this city’s international airport, American officials said. An Afghan official said three children were killed in the strike.
Also Sunday, President Joe Biden stood witness with grieving families under a gray sky as, one by one, the remains of 13 U.S. troops killed in Thursday’s Kabul airport suicide bombing were removed with solemnity from a military aircraft that brought them home.
Biden and his wife, Jill, met privately with family members of those killed before the president became the fourth commander in chief over two decades of war to stand at attention at Dover Air Force Base as the remains of the fallen from Afghanistan returned home.
The dead ranged in age from 20 to 31, and came from California and Massachusetts and states in between. Five were just 20 — born not long before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that spurred the U.S. to invade Afghanistan.
The drone strike in Afghanistan came just two days before the U.S. is set to conclude a massive twoweek airlift of more than 114,000 Afghans and foreigners and to withdraw the last of its troops, ending America’s longest war, with the Taliban back in power.
The State Department released a statement signed by around 100 countries, as well as NATO and the European Union, saying they had received “assurances” from the Taliban that people with travel documents would still be able to leave the country. The Taliban have said they will allow normal travel after the U.S. withdrawal is completed Tuesday and they assume control of the airport.
Witnesses to the drone strike said it targeted two cars parked in a residential building near the airport and that it killed and wounded several civilians. Officials had initially reported a separate rocket attack on a building near the airport, but it turned out to be the same event.
Dina Mohammadi said her extended family lived in the building and that several of them were killed, including children. She was not immediately able to provide the names or ages of the deceased.
Karim, a district representative, said the strike ignited a fire that made it difficult to rescue people. “There was smoke everywhere, and I took some children and women out,” he said.
Ahmaduddin, a neighbor, said he had collected the bodies of children after the strike, which set off more explosions inside the house. Like many Afghans, the two men each go by one name.
There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials after the reports of civilian casualties surfaced.
Two U.S. military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations, had earlier called the airstrike successful and said the vehicle it targeted carried multiple bombers.
Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a military spokesman, had earlier said the military was investigating whether there were civilian casualties but that “we have no indications at this time.”
“We are confident we successfully hit the target,” Urban said. “Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.”
The strike came two days after a suicide attack by the Islamic State group outside the airport killed at least 169 Afghans and the 13 U.S. service members. The U.S. carried out a drone strike elsewhere in the country Saturday that it said killed two ISIS members.
Biden had vowed to keep up the airstrikes, saying Saturday that another attack was “highly likely.” The State Department called the threat “specific” and “credible.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the U.S. has the capacity to evacuate the estimated 300 Americans who remain in the country and wish to leave. He said the U.S. does not currently plan to have an ongoing embassy presence after the withdrawal but will ensure “safe passage for any American citizen, any legal permanent resident” after Tuesday, as well as for “those Afghans who helped us.”