Taliban fighters have killed the senior ISIL (ISIS) group chief behind the lethal suicide bombing outdoors the Kabul airport in August 2021, in keeping with the daddy of a United States Marine killed within the assault who was briefed on Tuesday by army officers.
The blast on the Abbey Gate entrance of the Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport left about 170 Afghans and 13 US service members lifeless throughout the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.
Over the weekend, the US army started to tell the households of the 11 Marines, the sailor and the soldier who died within the assault that the ISIL (ISIS) chief had been killed. These relations then shared the data in a non-public group messaging chat, in keeping with the mom of one other Marine.
The account from the households to The Related Press information company was confirmed by three US officers and a senior congressional aide, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate particulars that had not but been made public.
The ISIL (ISIS) chief, whose identification has not but been launched, was killed in southern Afghanistan in early April because the Taliban performed a collection of operations in opposition to the group, in keeping with one of many officers.
The Taliban fighters on the time weren’t conscious of the identification of the particular person they killed, the official added.
Darin Hoover, the daddy of Employees Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover, stated the Marines offered solely restricted info to him Tuesday and didn’t determine the ISIL (ISIS) chief or give the circumstances of his demise.
Hoover is amongst a bunch of 12 Gold Star households — households which have misplaced somebody serving within the US armed forces — which have stored in contact because the bombing, supporting each other and sharing info by way of the messaging chat.
The chat was created by Cheryl Rex, the mom of Marine Lance Corporal Dylan Merola, who died within the blast.
Rex, a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s dealing with of the withdrawal, informed the AP it was by way of the chat group that they have been knowledgeable late on Monday concerning the killing, as they awaited official affirmation from US army officers.
Hoover stated he and his son’s mom, Kelly Henson, have spent the previous 12 months and a half grieving the demise of the 31-year-old Marine Corps workers sergeant and praying for accountability from the Biden administration for the dealing with of the withdrawal.
The killing of the unidentified ISIL (ISIS) group member, Hoover stated, does nothing to assist them.
“No matter occurs, it’s not going to carry Taylor again and I perceive that,” he stated in a telephone name. “About the one factor his mother and I can do now’s be an advocate for him. All we would like is the reality. And we’re not getting it. That’s the irritating half.”
His son and the opposite fallen service members have been amongst these screening the hundreds of Afghans frantically attempting to board one of many crowded flights in another country on August 26, 2021, after the Taliban takeover.
The scene of desperation rapidly was one in every of horror when a suicide bomber attacked. The ISIL (ISIS) group claimed duty.
The blast at Abbey Gate got here hours after Western officers warned of a serious assault, urging individuals to depart the airport. However that recommendation went largely unheeded by Afghans determined to flee in the previous couple of days of a US-led evacuation earlier than the US formally ended its 20-year presence within the nation.
The Afghanistan-based offshoot of ISIL (ISIS), with as much as 4,000 members, is the Taliban’s most bitter enemy and high menace militarily. The group has continued to perform assaults in Afghanistan because the Taliban takeover, particularly in opposition to the nation’s minority teams.
After the Trump administration reached a 2020 deal with the Taliban to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, the Biden administration adopted by way of on that settlement in 2021.
There had been hope in Washington that the Taliban’s want for worldwide recognition and help for the nation’s impoverished inhabitants may reasonable their behaviour.
However relations between the US and the Taliban have deteriorated considerably since they imposed new measures banning ladies from college and excluding girls from working for worldwide support and well being companies.
Nonetheless, a line of communication nonetheless exists between the 2 sides, led by the US particular envoy for Afghanistan, Tom West. West’s contacts are primarily with Taliban officers in Kabul and never with the group’s extra ideological wing primarily based in Kandahar.
The August 2021 pullout of US troops led to the swift collapse of the Afghan authorities and army, which the US had supported for almost 20 years, and the return to energy of the Taliban.
Within the aftermath, President Joe Biden directed {that a} broad evaluate look at “each facet of this from high to backside” and it was launched earlier this month.
Within the publicly launched model of the evaluate, the Biden administration largely laid blame on President Donald Trump for the chaotic 2021 withdrawal, which was punctuated by the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate.
Information of the killing got here on the identical day that Biden formally introduced he’ll search a second time period as president, providing a reminder of one of the crucial troublesome chapters of his presidency.
The disastrous drawdown was, on the time, the largest disaster that the comparatively new administration had confronted. It left sharp questions on Biden and his group’s competence and expertise — the dual pillars central to his marketing campaign for the White Home.
