Kabul, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan man killed in a U.S. drone attack last month was an enthusiastic and beloved long-time employee of an American humanitarian organization, his colleague says. In stark contrast to the Pentagon’s claim that is Islamic, the Pentagon trying to carry out an attack on the US military.
Signs that the U.S. military may have targeted the wrong man in a strike in Kabul on August 29, with devastating consequences and killed seven children and two other adults from his family. Is increasing. The Pentagon has said it is investigating further strikes, but after the Taliban’s takeover, there is no way to investigate on the ground in Afghanistan, severely limiting its ability to collect evidence.
Family reports, documents from colleagues seen by the Associated Press, and family home scenes-Hellfire missiles struck when Zemerai Ahmadhi’s car pulled on a driveway-all largely inconsistent with US explanations The army seems to be doing. Instead, they work for Americans and draw pictures of families who were trying to get a visa to the United States for fear of their lives under the Taliban.
At home, a broken and incinerated Toyota Corolla remains on the driveway. However, there are no signs of a major secondary explosion that the Pentagon has said was caused by an explosive hidden in the trunk of a car. Within the cramped and walled grounds, the house was undamaged except for broken glass, and the poorly built wooden balcony remains intact. The brick wall right next to the car stands intact. The trees and leaves near the car will not burn or tear.
The family wants the United States to hear their side of the story and see the facts in the field.
“We want them to come here. See what they did. Tell us. Tell us the evidence,” said Zemerai’s younger brother, Emar Ahmadhi, in the United States. Talked about the military. Near tears, he opened a photo of his three-year-old daughter, Marika, in her favorite dress on her cell phone. Another photo shows her burnt remains after she was killed on a strike.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted that it was unclear whether the man targeted by the strike was an IS operative or an aid worker. “I don’t know because we’re considering it,” he said at a hearing on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The strike took place on the last day of US presence in Afghanistan as US troops were evacuating at Kabul’s airport. Only a few days ago, an IS suicide bomber at the airport killed 169 Afghans and 13 US military personnel.
The Pentagon says the strike prevented another IS attack at the airport. Officials said they had been watching the car for hours as the U.S. military drove the car and saw people loading explosives behind it. A few days after reports that the children were killed, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called it a “legitimate strike” and said that “at least one of the killed was an ISIS facilitator.” .. An acronym for Islamic State Group.
The United States acknowledged reports of civilian casualties and said it could be due to a secondary explosion. The family said he horned when 37-year-old Zemerai was pulled home alone in the car. His 11-year-old son was running out, and Zemerai put the boy in a car to drive on the driveway. The other children went to see and the missile burned the car, killing seven children, an adult son and Zemerai’s nephew.
“That was my last memory, the sound of his horn,” said Romal Ahmadhi, another of Zemerai’s brothers who were in the house at the time. His three children aged 2 to 7 were killed.
Zemerai worked for 15 years at Nutrition & Education International, a California-based non-profit organization aimed at combating malnutrition in Afghanistan. Romal also worked easily at NEI.
Just a few days before the strike, Zemerai and Lomar applied for a special visa to the United States for those who worked with US companies. His brother Emar and his murdered nephew Ahmad Nasser Heideli also applied for a special visa for work in the US military.
Emal provided AP with a visa application, a letter of recommendation, and a document containing the medals that Heideli received for service in a special elite special forces trained in the United States. Heideli also received a letter of recommendation from the US-based Multi-Country Security Solutions Group, which worked as a contractor, “an important part of our commitment to provide the best loyal service to US Special Forces.” I called it.
“He was a talented employee,” Timothy Williams, the company’s president who wrote the testimonial, told AP. “Just because an incident happened doesn’t mean it will change. I’ll stand behind everyone.”
A colleague at NEI’s Zemerai described him as a talented worker who was promoted from a handyman to a skilled engineer to an essential employee.
Last year, when the company was unable to pay its employees full salary due to a coronavirus pandemic, employees were given the opportunity to leave their position for better-paying jobs elsewhere. I did.
But Ahmadhi told AP, “I’m NEI. From start to finish, until we reach our goals,” company founder and president Stephen Kwon told AP.
A colleague was his beloved father, who remained optimistic in the turmoil around him and jokingly remembered him as an enthusiastic dancer who immediately comforted the people around him. He grew up poor in Kabul and maintained “such a heart for the poor,” said a colleague who sought to be identified only as Sonia for safety reasons.
“He was definitely our best. Absolutely,” she said.
He also always supported the company’s efforts to hire more women and create women’s programs. This is one of many reasons my colleagues said that the proposal that he was involved in all sorts of extremism seemed silly to them.
“Everything I hear about him is so disturbing and so ridiculous that he loved his people so much,” Sonia said. “How did he look back overnight and start wanting to kill his people? It doesn’t make any sense.”
It seems unlikely that the United States will send anyone to Armadi’s home for investigation. “I don’t know of an option to put an investigator on the ground in Kabul,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. The US Central Command said it would rely on “other means” without elaborating on the surveillance videos and interceptions that led to the strike, and without any apparent meaning.
The family still wants to evacuate to the United States with sadness and rage. They are now afraid that the new Taliban rulers suspect they are IS, in addition to their existing concerns about past work with the United States. The Islamic State group is a violent rival of the Taliban.
“The United States has blamed us. They haven’t revealed our name, they haven’t even talked to us, and now we have suspicions,” the email said. rice field. “We are angry, but we don’t know what to do. For our safety we go to America, but it must be not just me, but our whole family. “
Many of their disappointments say that Ahmadhi’s colleagues have not been contacted by anyone in the Biden administration about what happened.
“Our team is scared right now, so talk to us,” Sonia said. “That is, in addition to being afraid of the Taliban and ISIS, they are now even more afraid of the US government.”
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Tucker reported from Washington. The Associated Press writer, Lolita Valdor, contributed this report from Washington.
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