US military review contradicts congressional testimony troops had Kabul suicide bomber in their sights
By
Mike Brest
April 15, 2024 11:07 am
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A military investigation has found that U.S. forces did not identify the would-be Abbey Gate suicide bomber before he killed about 170 people on Aug. 26, 2021.
The ISIS-K suicide bomber, identified as Abdul Rahman al Logari, arrived at the gates outside Hamid Karzai International Airport alongside thousands of Afghan allies who were desperate to leave Afghanistan given the U.S. military was days away from leaving the country, with the Taliban having taken control.
Thirteen U.S. troops were killed in the bombing, while dozens of other service members were injured in the blast.
In March 2023, Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews emotionally recounted the bombing, in which he lost an arm and a leg, in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He told lawmakers that he believed he identified a suspect who met the intelligence description troops had of the would-be bomber but that his commanding officer did not give him the green light to engage the target.
His comments, among others, came after U.S. Central Command had completed its investigation into the bombing and prompted CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla to direct U.S. Army Central, known as ARCENT, to conduct a supplemental investigation.
Former Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who was gravely injured, losing an arm and a leg in a suicide attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, becomes emotional as he recounts his story during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the United States evacuation from Afghanistan on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)ARCENT concluded that despite Vargas-Andrews’s testimony, U.S. troops did not identify the would-be bomber beforehand, nor was there a chance for them to engage him prior to the attack.
Specifically, investigators honed in on the person Vargas-Andrew was referencing, whom the military nicknamed “the bald man in black.” They were able to use a profile photo snapped of this person outside the gate and compared it with a photo of Logari ISIS-K posted on Telegram days later. The facial analysis demonstrated that the man seen at the airport and Logari are different people.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense/2965911/us-military-review-contradicts-congressional-testimony-kabul-suicide-bomber/
