Washington: The Pentagon said it would not punish the military team behind the errant drone strike that was intended to hit the masterminds of an attack on the Kabul airport but instead killed 10 civilians, including seven children.
Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby on Monday confirmed reports that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III approved a series of recommendations following an investigation into the deadly incident in August. Those did not include disciplinary action for the military service members involved in what officials have called a “tragic mistake.”
“The secretary’s not approving or calling for additional accountability measures,” Kirby told reporters during a briefing.
“I do not anticipate there being issues of personal accountability to be had with respect to the August 29th airstrike,” he added.
Investigations led by Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., who leads US Central Command, and Gen. Richard D. Clarke, the head of the Special Operations Command, resulted in a series of recommendations for procedural changes and process improvements “that need to occur and will occur,” Kirby said. “But in this particular case,” he explained, “there was not a strong enough case to be made for personal accountability” and no one was found criminally negligent.
An investigation by the Air Force’s inspector general, Lt. Gen. Sami D. Said, found the deadly mistake was the result of “confirmation bias.” Military officials were looking for a white Toyota Corolla, and when such a vehicle showed up at a suspected Islamic State location, they believed it contained a bomb. Instead, it was an aid worker loading his car with a laptop computer. The Pentagon is working to provide condolence payments and bring surviving family members to the US.
