According to the father of a Marine slain in the assault, who received a briefing from military authorities on Tuesday, the Taliban have murdered the top Islamic State group commander responsible for the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport in August 2021 that killed 13 American service personnel and around 170 Afghans.
The American military started contacting the relatives of the 11 Marines, one sailor, and one soldier who died in the bomb at Abbey Gate during the tumultuous American pullout from Afghanistan over the weekend. According to the mother of another Marine, the family members disclosed the details in a private group texting session.
Three U.S. officials and a senior congressional staffer, who talked on the record on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that had not yet been made public, verified what the families told The Associated Press.
According to one of the authorities, the IS commander, whose name has not yet been made public, was assassinated in southern Afghanistan in the early days of April while the Taliban carried out a number of operations against the Islamic State organization. The official said that the Taliban were unaware of the victim’s identification at the time of the killing.
The father of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, Darin Hoover, said that the Marines only gave him a limited amount of information on Tuesday and failed to name the Islamic State commander or disclose the details of his demise.
Hoover is one of 12 Gold Star families that have stayed in contact with one another and shared information via a text conversation since the attack. Cheryl Rex, the mother of Marine Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola, who perished in the explosion, initiated the talk.
Rex, an outspoken opponent of how the Biden administration handled the pullout, told the AP that they learned about the assassination late on Monday while waiting for formal confirmation from U.S. military authorities.
The 31-year-old Marine Corps staff sergeant died, and Hoover said he and his son’s mother, Kelly Henson, have spent the last 18 months mourning his loss and begging for the Biden administration to take responsibility for how the pullout was handled.
Hoover said that the death of the unnamed Islamic State group member did not further their cause.
He added over the phone, “I realize that no matter what happens, it won’t bring Taylor back. “Right now, being an advocate for him is about all his mother and I can do. The truth is all that we need. And we aren’t understanding it. The irritating aspect is that.
The hundreds of Afghans who were hurriedly attempting to board one of the packed aircraft out of the country on August 26, 2021, following the Taliban takeover were being screened by his son and the other slain military men. When a suicide bomber struck, the desperate situation soon changed into one of terror. The Islamic State organization took ownership.
Several hours before to the Abbey Gate explosion, Western authorities had issued a significant attack warning and urged travelers to flee the airport. But in the last days of an American-led evacuation before the U.S. formally terminated its 20-year involvement, Afghans anxious to leave the nation overwhelmingly disregarded that counsel.
With up to 4,000 militants, the Afghanistan-based branch of the Islamic State poses the Taliban’s fiercest rival and greatest military danger. Since the Taliban took control of the nation, the organization has persisted in carrying out assaults there, particularly against the minorities.
There had been hope in Washington that the Taliban’s desire for international recognition and assistance for the country’s impoverished population might moderate their behavior after the Trump administration reached a deal with them in 2020 to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and the Biden administration carried out that agreement in 2021.
However, since the Taliban implemented harsh new regulations barring women from working for foreign assistance and health organizations and forbidding girls from attending school, ties between the two countries have considerably worsened.
However, there is still a channel of contact between the two parties, which is overseen by Tom West, the US special representative for Afghanistan. The Taliban’s stronger ideological component is situated in Kandahar, although West mostly communicates with Kabul-based Taliban leaders.
The Afghan government and military, which the United States had backed for over two decades, quickly fell apart after the August 2021 withdrawal of American forces, and the Taliban quickly retook control. President Joe Biden ordered a thorough assessment to look into “every aspect of this from top to bottom” in the wake of the incident, and it was published earlier this month.
In the version of the evaluation that was made publicly available, the Biden administration mostly blamed President Donald Trump for the fatal and chaotic 2021 pullout, which was marked by the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate.
The murder’s announcement coincided with Biden’s official announcement that he would run for president again, serving as a reminder of one of his administration’s most challenging episodes. The devastating drawdown was the most serious disaster the government had experienced at the time. It raised serious concerns about the skill and expertise of Biden and his staff, the two foundations of his presidential campaign.