A drone attack carried out by the United States in the last evacuation days in response to the attacks of the Islamic State (IS) -K in Kabul killed 10 civilians, including seven girls and boys. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden defended the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. “This is the right decision. A wise decision. And the best decision for the United States,” said the president. The UN warned about the possibility of “A humanitarian catastrophe” and requested funds to address the economic crisis in the Central Asian country.
American drones
At least 10 people were killed in the most recent US airstrike near Kabul airport on the Sunday prior to troop withdrawal.. Among the fatal victims were seven boys and girls They were playing inside the car of Zemarai Ahmadi, an engineer who worked for an NGO that seeks to eradicate malnutrition in Afghanistan. For the United States, the attack was against alleged extremists, according to the US Army spokesman, Bill Urban, who assured that “it prevented an imminent threat from EI-K to the airport.”
“The missile exploded on top of the vehicle full of children, which was parked inside the house”explained Aimal Ahmadi, Zemarai’s brother, who also lost his life as a result of the US drone attack. “He killed them all”Ahmadi recounted from Khoja Boghr, a densely populated neighborhood in northwestern Kabul. Also among the victims was his two-year-old daughter Malika.
On Monday Ahmadi awaited the arrival of his relatives to organize the burial of most of his family members. “My brother and his four children died. I have lost my little daughter, nieces and nephews”, said sadly before the remains of the vehicle that was completely calcined.
“A wise decision”
After ending a 20-year military invasion in Afghanistan, Biden defended the withdrawal of troops celebrated by the Taliban as a great victory. “When I took office (last January), the Taliban were in the strongest situation since 2001. We had two options. : stay or escalate; ratify the agreement that had already been approved in the previous government or reject it and send new tens of thousands of soldiers to stop the advance of the Taliban, “explained Biden in a video message released by the White House.
The message of the North American president came after the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, warn of impending humanitarian and economic catastrophe in Afghanistan and “The threat of a total collapse of basic services.”
“I urge all Member States to strive to assist the people of Afghanistan in their darkest hour of need … to provide timely, flexible and comprehensive funding … to help ensure that humanitarian workers have the funding, access and legal guarantees they need to stay and provide their services, “he wrote in a statement.
“Imminent threat”
On Sunday The United States reported the destruction of a car loaded with explosives during an airstrike that allegedly sought to prevent an attempt by the Islamic State group to explode a car bomb at the Hamid Karzai airfield. Nearby is the Khoja Boghra neighborhood, where the fatal attack occurred that killed seven children, five of whom were under five years of age.
For its part, the spokesman for the US Army Central Command, Captain Bill Urban, assured that after the attack on the vehicle there were subsequent explosions. “Which indicates that inside there was a large amount of explosive material that may have caused more victims,” ​​he said. “It is not clear what could have happened and we are investigating further.” However, residents of the neighborhood assured the Qatari signal, Al Jazeera, that they only heard a detonation.
On Sunday, Urban stated that “we are still evaluating the results of that attack, which we know prevented an imminent threat from IS-K to the airport.” Later that day, Central Command claimed that it was “Evaluating the possibilities of civilian casualties” but they have “no clue at this time.” In the evening, the US military said it had launched investigations into the attack launched on Sunday.
A common afghan
Yet Ahmadi, who lost much of his family in the US attack, finds it hard to believe that his brother was considered a sympathizer of the Islamic State. Ahmadi recounted that Zemarai, 40, was an engineer and worked for an NGO that fights against malnutrition in the Central Asian country. An ordinary Afghan who was simply looking to make ends meet in a period of severe instability, according to his brother. Zemarai had just arrived home after work, the family was hoping to go to the United States, so he asked one of his sons to park the car to practice before arriving in the United States, Ahmadi told Al Jazeera. Several boys and girls ran to get into the vehicle. “When the car stopped was when the missile hit”, he related to the Qatari signal.
The roar of the explosion mobilized Ahmadi’s neighbors who quickly came to help. “All the children died inside the vehicle, the adults were dead right outside. The car was on fire, we could only find pieces of the corpses”says one of them, Sabir. Another of the neighbors, Rashid Noori, summed up the tragedy like this: “The Taliban kill us, the Islamic State kill us, the Americans kill us”. “Do they think all of our children are terrorists?”, he wonders.
Drone attacks
In 2009 the United Nations mission in Afghanistan began recording civilian casualties. According to the UN, between 2009 and the end of 2020, more than 38,000 civilians died and some 7,000 people were injured in the same period.
For Emran Fierce, an Afghan journalist with more than a decade of research on drone attacks on the civilian population of Afghanistan, the fact that the attack occurred in the capital (and not in remote areas of provinces such as Herat, Nangarhar, Kunduz, Logar ) it can help to draw attention to a problem that has affected Afghans since 2001 when the US invasion began.
“It is very symbolic that the US operations in Afghanistan began with drone strikes and ended with drone strikes. They seem to have learned nothing in 20 years.”he told Al Jazeera.
While the executive director of Amnesty International (AI) in the United States, Paul O’Brien demanded a transparent investigation from the Joe Biden government for the death of civilians in the air strikes. “For two decades, the United States carried out unaccountable attacks on how many civilians were killed by the actions of the United States in Afghanistan and other countries.“the organization posted on its Twitter account.
“A lesson for the world”
After 20 years of occupation by the US and NATO allied countries, the Taliban on Tuesday celebrated the departure of the last US soldiers from Afghan soil. The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid celebrated that Afghanistan finally achieved “Obtain its independence from foreign forces”. Mujahid held a press conference at Kbaul airport, a few hours after the last group of US soldiers took off.
“Congratulations to Afghanistan … This victory belongs to all of us,” Mujahid declared. “This is a great lesson for other invaders and for our future generations” and “it is also a lesson for the world,” added the spokesman for the Taliban movement.
Taliban leaders toured the airfield escorted by armed fighters waving the movement’s white flag after the US withdrawal 24 hours before the deadline. Since August 14, a day before the Taliban regime took power, some 123,000 people were evacuated in planes from the United States and from NATO-allied countries.
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