Defense chief orders new review of mistaken US drone strike

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a senior-level reappraisal of the probe that recovered that 10 Afghan civilians, including 7 children, were killed successful an Aug. 29 U.S. drone onslaught successful Kabul that the Pentagon initially said had killed an Islamic State fighter. The reviewer is to see whether immoderate subject disciplinary enactment is warranted.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Monday that Austin told the Air Force to name an serviceman astatine three- oregon four-star fertile to reappraisal the Central Command investigation, which examined successful item the chronology of events starring to the tragedy. The main findings were that lone Afghan civilians were killed and that the U.S. subject had been mistaken successful its content that the achromatic Toyota Corolla it tracked for hours and past struck with a Hellfire rocket was a valid threat.

Discrepancies betwixt the military’s archetypal claims astir the onslaught and findings connected the crushed rapidly emerged. The Associated Press and different quality organizations reported that the operator of the targeted conveyance was a longtime worker astatine a U.S. humanitarian organization. There were nary signs of a ample secondary blast, contempt the Pentagon’s assertion that the conveyance contained explosives.

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The caput of Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie, announced Friday that his probe had determined that the conveyance targeted by the drone had initially been spotted astatine a known Islamic State compound successful Kabul and was tracked by U.S. quality for 8 hours. McKenzie said the quality astir the conveyance turned retired to beryllium tragically mistaken.

The subject initially asserted that astatine slightest 1 Islamic State combatant had been killed successful the vehicle, but McKenzie’s probe recovered that lone guiltless civilians were killed. McKenzie took blasted for the mistake and apologized.

“This peculiar onslaught surely was a unspeakable mistake and we surely regret that, and I’ve been precise wide that we instrumentality afloat work for it,” helium told a Pentagon quality conference.

Austin connected Friday alluded to his petition for a review, saying successful a written connection that helium wanted to beryllium definite that Central Command had considered “all disposable discourse and information" astir the mistaken onslaught and that accountability beryllium afloat considered.

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The determination to necessitate a reappraisal is simply a reflection of the seriousness of the mistakes made successful the last hours of the U.S. subject withdrawal from Kabul, which included a hurried evacuation of much than 120,000 Afghans, Americans and others. The evacuation was carried retired nether the menace of onslaught by the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate, which had conducted a deadly termination bombing extracurricular the airdrome 3 days earlier the mistaken drone strike.

Kirby said the Air Force reappraisal volition survey the thoroughness of Central Command's probe and urge whether anyone progressive should beryllium held accountable.

“If determination is accountability to beryllium held, the decisions astir who and what would beryllium done would beryllium a abstracted consideration,” Kirby said.

The reappraisal is to beryllium completed wrong 45 days of the assignment of a reviewing officer, Kirby said.

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