U.S. Central Command said in a report released Monday that Marine snipers stationed near Kabul airport’s monastery gate were the perpetrators of the airport attack, which occurred amid the chaos of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. There was no chance to eliminate the terrorists, the report released on Monday said. The bombing “could not have been prevented.”
The Biden administration has spoken out about the suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. military personnel and about 170 Afghan civilians at Hamid Karzai International Airport’s Monastery Gate on Aug. 26, 2021, when multiple Marines were seen outside a crowded evacuation area. The investigation was resumed after police claimed to have found the man. That fits the description of an ISIS-K terrorist suspect, but I was told not to shoot him.
“The terrorist attack at Abbey Gate could not have been prevented at the tactical level without compromising the mission of maximizing the number of evacuees,” said a statement issued by Centcom regarding the report’s findings. was written, which echoed the military statement. initial findings Months after the deadly explosion.
“The suicide bomber was not previously identified in the crowd, and there was no opportunity for military personnel to engage him before the attack,” the CENTCOM investigation found.
Centcom identified Abdul Rahman Al Rogari as the terrorist who wore and detonated a suicide vest filled with 20 pounds of explosives packed with ball bearings.
Al-Loghali had been released by the Taliban from a detention facility at the US-controlled Bagram Air Base. hastily abandoned A few months before the bombing.
“While I am pleased that my investigation has led the Biden administration to reopen the investigation into the Abbey Gate attack, which killed 13 U.S. service members and injured 45 others, it should not have taken this long to get answers. ” said the House of Commons Foreign Secretary. In a statement, Issues Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) accused the administration of “ignoring critical information about what happened during the emergency evacuation from Afghanistan.”
“It’s clear there are many more questions to answer,” the Texas Republican added.
The investigation was reopened following pressure from the McCall Commission, which is conducting its own investigation into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“If Congressional Democrats had done their constitutional duty and monitored what happened more than two years ago, much of this information would have come to light then and would have saved many years of anguish and speculation. It could have been avoided,” McCall said.
“This report corroborated what witnesses told this commission that the Taliban were executing civilians outside the airport. of civilians attempting to flee, creating a dangerous operating environment for U.S. military personnel at the gate amidst a significant threat from ISIS-K.”
“The report also finally revealed the identity of the monastery gate bomber as Abdul Rahman al-Rogali, an ISIS-K terrorist who was released from Bagram prison by the Taliban.”
Some Marines suspected that a “bald man in black” spotted in a crowd outside Kabul airport on the morning of the bombing was a potential threat.
However, military authorities used facial recognition technology to determine in the report that the person was not al-Roghali.
“The battalion commander exercised sound military judgment and concluded that ‘Bald Man in Black’ was not a legitimate military target,” said a U.S. official on the 12-member review team.
“Given the timeline and crowd density, it was unlikely to positively identify the bomber prior to the attack,” said another member of the Army review team.
Marine Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews told McCall’s committee last March that he believed he had seen a suicide bomber before the explosion, but that “the leadership had no authority to engage us. He said he was denied permission to shoot the man because of this.
“Positively…we asked [the battalion commander] If you can shoot me,” Vargas Andrews told lawmakers. “Our battalion commander said, and I quote, ‘I don’t know.'”
Vargas Andrews, who lost an arm and a leg in the explosion, was one of about 45 wounded soldiers who survived.
Another U.S. Marine, Tristan Hirsch, told the Enterprise Record a year after the attack that a potential CIA terrorist had “appeared and left the area around the airport multiple times the day before and that day.” “I did,” he said. [of]” Bombing.
“My friend, who was a sniper, held a rifle and tried to kill the man,” Hirsch told the newspaper. “We asked for permission, and the answer was, ‘Let’s ask a military judge to see if it’s legal.'”
The military review determined that it was “unlikely” that an IED test had taken place outside the monastery’s gates before the attack, and that there was confusion over whether suspicious persons or persons outside the airport should have been involved. rejected the claim.
“Any depiction of these events that indicates that the battalion commander did not understand these events [is] It’s just not supported by evidence,” said a U.S. official involved in the investigation.
“it is clear [the battalion commander] “They did not approve of the sniper engaging the ‘bald man in black,’ but it was clear that this decision was understood,” another official added.
The report praised the U.S. Marines for being “vigilant in the line of duty” leading up to the bombing.
