US officials told The Times that it was around this time that their target, a white sedan, first came under surveillance, after it was spotted leaving a compound identified as an alleged Islamic State group safe house about 3 miles northwest of the airport. Like the rest of Ahmadi’s colleagues, he spoke on the condition of anonymity because of his association with an American company in Afghanistan.Īccording to his relatives, Ahmadi left for work around 9 am in a white 1996 Toyota Corolla that belonged to NEI, departing from his house, where he lived with his three brothers and their families, a few miles west of the airport. “I asked him if he was still at home, and he said yes,” the country director said in an interview at NEI’s office in Kabul. The day of the strike, Ahmadi’s boss called from the office around 8:45 am and asked him to pick up his laptop. While the US military said the drone strike might have killed three civilians, Times reporting shows that it killed 10, including seven children, in a dense residential block.Īhmadi, 43, had worked since 2006 as an electrical engineer for Nutrition and Education International, a California-based aid and lobbying group. And an analysis of video feeds showed that what the military may have seen was Ahmadi and a colleague loading canisters of water into his trunk to bring home to his family. The evidence, including extensive interviews with family members, co-workers and witnesses, suggests that his travels that day actually involved transporting colleagues to and from work. Times reporting has identified the driver as Zemari Ahmadi, a longtime worker for a US aid group. Military officials said they did not know the identity of the car’s driver when the drone fired but deemed him suspicious because of how they interpreted his activities that day, saying that he possibly visited an Islamic State group safe house and, at one point, loaded what they thought could be explosives into the car.Īfghanistan: Over 1,000 civilians killed in attacks since Taliban takeover, UN says WATCH: King Charles escorts 'confused' Biden as he starts talking to Windsor Castle guard Kabul: It was the last known missile fired by the United States in its 20-year war in Afghanistan, and the military called it a “righteous strike” - a drone attack after hours of surveillance 19 August against a vehicle that US officials thought contained an Islamic State bomb and posed an imminent threat to troops at Kabul’s airport.īut a New York Times investigation of video evidence, along with interviews with more than a dozen of the driver’s co-workers and family members in Kabul, raises doubts about the US version of events, including whether explosives were present in the vehicle, whether the driver had a connection to the Islamic State group and whether there was a second explosion after the missile struck the car.
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