A review conducted by U.S. Central Command has found that the members of a Marine scout sniper team who believed they had the opportunity to eliminate the suicide bomber prior to the devastating attack at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport were mistaken.
During a recent briefing, a member of the supplemental review team, responsible for incorporating new information and claims into the military’s initial investigation, stated that it is incorrect to say that some service members had the bomber in their sights and could have prevented the attack.
According to a member of the Army review team, Al-Logari joined ISIS-K (Islamic State in Khorasan Province) in 2016.
Al-Logari, who was once held captive by coalition forces, was among the prisoners released by the Taliban before their takeover of Afghanistan. According to another team member, the prisoners were set free without any resistance from Afghan security forces, shortly before the bombing occurred.
According to one U.S. official, the intelligence community compared a photo of the alleged bomber that was posted by ISIS-K with photos of al-Logari taken during his time in coalition custody. They used facial analysis to determine that it was the same individual. The first review team member confirmed that the U.S. intelligence community subsequently verified that al-Logari was indeed the suicide bomber.
According to another official, the ability of ISIS-K to carry out the bombing would not have been affected even if the bomber had not been released by the Taliban.
According to an official, there were several bombers at their disposal. This suggests that the attack at Abbey Gate could not have been prevented tactically.
Republican members of Congress have continuously suggested that the bombing could have been avoided while criticizing the Biden administration’s management of the withdrawal. Much of their argument stems from the testimony of former Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who was part of a sniper team stationed near Abbey Gate.
During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in March 2023, Vargas-Andrews revealed that his team had encountered a suspicious man who matched the description of the suspected Abbey Gate bomber. However, they were not given permission to engage and prevent the explosion, resulting in Vargas-Andrews losing two of his limbs.
During the withdrawal, General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, the top U.S. general in the Middle East, informed lawmakers that he had no knowledge of any intelligence alerts given to U.S. forces at the time that align with the description of the individual observed by the sniper team.
Florida Republican Representative Cory Mills confronted General McKenzie, accusing him of undermining the integrity of the Marine. Mills challenged McKenzie to confront the Marine face-to-face and repeat his remarks.
“I don’t want to confront him and deliver that message. Instead, I would like to express the notion that the battlefield is an intricate and multifaceted environment. On that particular day, numerous dangers were looming overhead. I deeply respect his dedication and commitment to the mission. It saddens me that he sustained injuries,” McKenzie remarked.
The review team also discovered that the man observed by the sniper teams did not fit the descriptions provided in any intelligence reports. They further noted that there was no specific individual identified as the bomber by intelligence prior to the attack. The reviewers concluded that the Marines mistakenly relied on a description that combined certain aspects of an intelligence report on one person with elements of an informal “spot report” that described a different suspicious individual seen by other troops near the airport perimeter.
During the incident, the service members focused their attention on a man who was bald and dressed in black. However, this individual did not precisely fit the description provided in the be-on-the-lookout reports at that time, as revealed in the review. The review also highlighted that descriptions of suspicious individuals were often too vague to accurately identify anyone in the crowd.
The review team carefully compared a photograph captured by the sniper team with images of al-Logari, and they were able to confidently conclude that the two individuals were not the same person.
According to the official, it is important to emphasize that service members were diligent in their duties. However, the available intelligence did not provide enough specific information to positively identify the bomber before the attack. The individual identified by a sniper team as suspicious was not the same person responsible for the bombing at Abbey Gate.
According to an Army official, the military intends to make a redacted version of the complete 1,200-page supplemental report available to the public at an undisclosed time.
