US military orders new interviews on the deadly 2021 Afghan airport attack as criticism persists
The Pentagon’s Central Command has decided to interview roughly two dozen service members who were at the Kabul airport when suicide bombers attacked during the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal but weren’t included in the military’s initial investigation
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Pentagon's Central Command has decided to interview roughly two dozen service members who were at the Kabul airport when suicide bombers attacked during U.S. forces' chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal but weren't included in the military's initial investigation.
The decision, according to officials, does not reopen the administration’s investigation into the deadly bombing and the withdrawal two years ago. But the interviews are meant to see if any of the service members have new or different information. The new interviews were ordered by Gen. Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, and triggered in part by assertions by at least one service member injured in the blast who said he was never interviewed about it and that he may have been able to stop the attackers.
The additional interviews will likely be seized on by congressional critics, mostly Republican, as proof that the administration bungled the probe into the attack, in addition to mishandling the withdrawal. And it may reopen wounds for families of those killed and injured, particularly those who have complained that the Pentagon hasn't been transparent enough about the bombing that killed 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. servicemen and women.
