“ A new U.S. military review identified the bomber for the first time and found that the 2021 deadly attack was not preventable.
An initial Pentagon review released in February 2022 found that the attack was carried out by a lone suicide bomber and that it was not preventable. Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, ordered the supplemental review last year after witnesses of the attack came forward with new information and allegations that they could have stopped it but were denied the chance to do so.
One of the most vocal witnesses was retired Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who lost an arm and a leg in the attack, and suffered damage to internal organs that resulted in roughly 50 surgeries.
In testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee in March 2023, Vargas-Andrews said the Marines and others involved in the evacuation were given descriptions of men believed to be plotting an attack. Vargas-Andrews said he and others spotted a man who fit the description — a person who came to be known as “bald man in black.”
But the review — which included interviews with more than 50 service members directly involved in the evacuation, including a dozen who had not previously been interviewed — found that this man had no connection to the attack.
The actual bomber was Abdul Rahman al-Logari, according to the U.S. military. A facial comparison analysis determined that al-Logari and the bald man in black could not be the same person, the review found.
The team of military investigators reviewed photos and video taken of the scene before the attack and found no footage of al-Logari. He was determined to have arrived immediately before the blast and blended in with the massive crowd gathered outside the airport.
A day after the attack, ISIS-K, an Islamic State offshoot based in Afghanistan, identified al-Logari as the bomber. The new review marks the first time U.S. officials have said they have independent confirmation.
Al-Logari was among the thousands of militants released from Afghan prisons after the Taliban seized control of Kabul in mid-August 2021. But the officials involved in the review said U.S. intelligence determined that even if al-Logari had not been released from prison, the attack would likely have still been carried out because ISIS-K had other bombers ready and available.“
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/kabul-airport-bomber-was-isis-operative-freed-prison-taliban-rcna147810
Perhaps now the families of those fallen can have a better understanding of the circumstances of the bombing.
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