A botched drone strike in Kabul aimed at ISIS-K terrorists, but that the Pentagon admitted on Friday instead killed an aid worker and members of his family including seven children, is the latest furor to involve Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley — who had called the strike “righteous” but on Friday described it as a “horrible tragedy.”
Head of the U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. announced Friday that it is unlikely any ISIS-K members were killed in a Kabul drone strike on Aug. 29, which led to multiple civilian casualties.
“We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or a direct threat to US forces,” McKenzie said of the airstrike at a briefing, following an investigation by the military.
The drone strike, which was intended to target ISIS-K operatives, resulted in the deaths of an aid worker and up to nine of his family members, including seven children. According to U.S. officials, the strike on the vehicle, formerly believed to have been a threat that included bombs and that was operated by ISIS-K militants, took place after a suicide bombing at Kabul airport in Afghanistan killed 13 U.S. service members and civilians.
Milley earlier this month had defended the strike, even as the details were not fully clear.
“At this point, we think that the procedures were correctly followed and it was a righteous strike,” he said in a press briefing.
On Friday, he emphasized that the decision to strike was made in a “high-threat environment,” coming just days after a deadly terrorist attack on U.S. troops at Kabul airport.
“In a dynamic high threat environment, the commanders on the ground had appropriate authority and had reasonable certainty that the target was valid but after deeper post strike analysis our conclusion is that innocent civilians were killed,” he said. “This is a horrible tragedy of war and it’s heart wrenching and we are committed to being fully transparent about this incident.”
But it marks the latest furor to engulf the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has been facing criticism over revelations in a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which reported that Milley took part in secret phone calls with his Chinese counterpart.
The book alleges that the phone calls took place prior to the 2020 presidential election on Oct. 30, 2020, and two days after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, on Jan. 8, 2021.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
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