A U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan that killed ten Afghan civilians, including seven children, in Kabul on Aug. 29 was a tragic mistake but did not violate the rules of war law, the Pentagon said today, following an internal investigation. .
“The investigation did not find any breaches of the law, including the Law of War,” said Lt. Gen. Sami Said, a Pentagon official.
“Execution errors combined with confirmation bias and communication disruptions have led to sad civilian casualties,” he added.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Lt. Gen. Said insisted it was “wrong,” not “criminal, suspicious or negligent.”
Those involved “believed at the time that they were targeting an imminent threat,” he said in his report.
On August 29, amid the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the US military destroyed a white Toyota Corolla, claiming it was “full of explosives”, saying it had thwarted an attempted attack by the Islamic State jihadist group in Khorasan.
But the family of the driver of the vehicle, Ezmarai Ahmadi, said he was working for an NGO and that ten people, including seven children, had been killed in the US-led invasion.
During the investigation carried out by Lieutenant General Said, 29 people, including 22 “directly involved in the air strike”, were interrogated under oath.
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