“Over the previous two years, some service members have claimed that they’d the bomber of their sights and so they may have prevented the assault,” a member of the assessment workforce mentioned, talking to reporters on the situation of anonymity beneath floor guidelines set by the Pentagon. “However we now know that isn’t appropriate.”
The renewed scrutiny underscores how the bombing, which additionally killed about 170 Afghans and wounded 45 further U.S. troops, continues to hang-out survivors and the Biden administration.
Predicted for days, the assault was a traumatic nadir to the swiftly organized airlift that ferried 124,000 individuals to security as Taliban fighters swept into Afghanistan’s capital and the U.S.-backed authorities fled, ending 20 years of struggle. For President Biden, the incident stays a low level in workplace, with Home Republicans, who proceed to analyze the decision-making that precipitated it, having pledged to carry him and his administration accountable for the bloodshed.
The navy’s supplemental assessment was ordered by Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, in September, greater than a yr after Marines who survived the bombing surfaced their rivalry that the Islamic State operative chargeable for the assault may have been shot useless earlier than he harmed anybody. The difficulty was first raised by Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews in an interview with The Washington Publish close to the primary anniversary of the assault, and subsequently in testimony he delivered to the Home International Affairs Committee.
“To today, we imagine he was the suicide bomber,” Vargas-Andrews instructed lawmakers beneath oath final yr. “Plain and easy, we have been ignored. Our experience was disregarded.”
Vargas-Andrews mentioned in a telephone interview that he appreciated the assessment workforce’s work and that, after a briefing final week, he agrees that the “bald man in black” — distinguishable due to his black headband and shaved head — was not the suicide bomber.
“I’ll say this: I feel the investigation workforce did a extremely good job and have been actually thorough,” mentioned Vargas-Andrews, who misplaced an arm and a leg within the explosion and underwent dozens of surgical procedures within the following yr.
He added, although, that he nonetheless believes the Marines may have had the eventual bomber of their sights. They photographed quite a few suspicious people, passing these pictures up their chain of command, however lots of the pictures went lacking, he mentioned, together with these of two different males the Marines requested permission to shoot.
“They straight-up instructed us within the briefing, ‘Hey, these images don’t exist anyplace,’” he mentioned.
An individual acquainted with the assessment workforce’s work, talking on the situation of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the problem, affirmed that many pictures captured by the sniper workforce — and different models — went lacking within the chaotic final days of the evacuation. This particular person mentioned there is no such thing as a document of them requesting to shoot different potential bombers, however the assessment discovered that the snipers did request to shoot Taliban fighters who have been abusing civilians, and have been denied.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), the International Affairs Committee chairman, has mentioned the allegations of the suicide bomber slipping away demonstrates the necessity for accountability. Throughout a latest listening to, retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, the previous chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, instructed lawmakers that the “elementary mistake” made by the Biden administration was the State Division’s failure to start the evacuation earlier than it was “too late.”
Evaluation workforce members instructed reporters that the person the Marines thought was suspicious appeared about 7 a.m. on the airport’s Abbey Gate, prompting Vargas-Andrews’s sniper workforce — name signal Reaper 2 — to report suspicious exercise up by their chain of command. In response, personnel in an operations middle issued a warning often called a BOLO, brief for be looking out.
“BOLO: Snipers at Abbey Gate determine particular person within the crowd appearing suspicious, clear shaved, bald head,” in line with a message despatched to service members that day and included in briefing slides shared with the media. “Particular person is appearing calm, not dashing in direction of the gate, however is as an alternative sitting alongside the wall. The person has a backpack and one other clear bag that he has stored with him.”
About 8 a.m., Vargas-Andrews’s workforce radioed to request permission to shoot the person and eradicate the menace they believed he posed. The request was denied about half-hour later.
Vargas-Andrews instructed lawmakers that he then requested a senior commander to return to their safety tower to watch the person they considered the bomber and that, after they requested once more if they’d permission to shoot, the commander responded, “I don’t know.” The person light into the group about 10 a.m., the assessment workforce discovered.
Within the briefing slides made obtainable by the Pentagon, the assessment workforce shared a picture of the person and mentioned he didn’t match quite a few pictures of the suicide bomber, a member of the Islamic State’s department in Afghanistan that the militants later recognized as Abdul Rahman al-Logari.
The bomber, a assessment workforce official mentioned, didn’t arrive at Abbey Gate till simply earlier than the explosion. The official declined to say how the navy assessment decided that, saying some facets of the matter stay labeled. Al-Logari was among the many 1000’s of militants freed by Taliban fighters a number of weeks earlier as they emptied Afghan authorities prisons on their march to Kabul, a assessment workforce member mentioned.
The assessment workforce interviewed 52 individuals, together with Vargas-Andrews and some dozen others who have been wounded within the explosion and unable to talk to investigators in fall 2021. Eighteen individuals who have been interviewed within the preliminary investigation have been consulted once more, assessment workforce members mentioned.
The assessment workforce addressed a number of different points, substantiating testimony from rank-and-file troops who noticed Taliban fighters exterior the airport abusing and killing civilians making an attempt to flee the nation. The militants have been posted there after a high U.S. commander, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, negotiated an uneasy settlement with the group’s leaders that referred to as for U.S. troops to safeguard the airport and its perimeter whereas the Taliban would supply safety exterior.
The assessment workforce credited U.S. troops concerned within the evacuation with adhering to guidelines of engagement they’d, and mentioned that steering was “clear, understood, and adopted.”
Nonetheless, the assessment workforce didn’t take up quite a few studies from survivors that after the explosion, militants opened hearth on U.S. service members. The preliminary investigation discovered that the lack of life was brought on by the one explosion, and that troops who reported coming beneath gunfire and returning it have been in all probability confused amid the chaos.
“If something,” one assessment workforce member mentioned, “we’ve solely confirmed our assertions that there was no advanced assault.”
Killed within the assault have been 11 Marines: Lance Cpl. David Espinoza, 20; Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23; Workers Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, 31; Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22; Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20; Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, 20; Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, 20; Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Web page, 23; Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25; Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, 22; and Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, 20. Additionally killed have been Military Workers Sgt. Ryan Knauss, 23, and Navy Hospital Corpsman Maxton Soviak, 22.
Hoover’s father, Darin Hoover, mentioned in an interview that members of the family have been notified of the assessment workforce’s findings over every of the final two weekends. He mentioned the workforce offered “a lot, a lot, way more element than we have been initially given,” however he nonetheless questioned whether or not they had the total fact concerning the suicide bomber.
“That’s not sitting too effectively with me, to be sincere with you,” he mentioned. “I feel there may be lot extra to that they’re not telling us.”
The elder Hoover mentioned Marines current after the explosion proceed to insist they got here beneath and returned gunfire, and he stays disgusted, he mentioned, that the US relied on the Taliban to supply safety exterior the airport.
“Right here we’re permitting the enemy to be our safety,” he mentioned. “It simply is mindless to me in any respect.”