Global Courant 2023-04-26 04:15:30
Taliban fighters have killed the senior leader of the ISIL (ISIS) group behind the deadly suicide bombing outside Kabul airport in August 2021, according to the father of a US Marine killed in the attack, who was briefed by military officials on Tuesday .
The explosion at the entrance to the Abbey Gate of the Hamid Karzai International Airport killed about 170 Afghans and 13 US military personnel during the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
Over the weekend, the US military began informing the families of the 11 Marines, sailor and soldier killed in the attack that the leader of ISIL (ISIS) had been killed. Those family members then shared the information in a private group messaging chat, according to another Marine’s mother.
The families’ report to the Associated Press was corroborated by three US officials and a senior congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.
The leader of ISIL (ISIS), whose identity has not yet been released, was killed in southern Afghanistan in early April as the Taliban carried out a series of operations against the group, one of the officials said.
At the time, Taliban fighters were unaware of the identity of the person they killed, the official added.
Darin Hoover, the father of Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover, said the Marines provided him with only limited information on Tuesday and did not identify the leader of ISIL (ISIS) or give the circumstances of his death.
Hoover is one of a group of 12 Gold Star families — families who lost someone who served in the U.S. Armed Forces — who have stayed in touch since the bombing, supporting each other and sharing information through messaging chat.
The chat was created by Cheryl Rex, the mother of Marine Lance Corporal Dylan Merola, who was killed in the blast.
Rex, a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal, told the AP they were informed of the killing via the chat group late Monday while they awaited official confirmation from US military officials.
Hoover said he and his son’s mother, Kelly Henson, have spent the past year and a half mourning the death of the 31-year-old Marine Corps staff sergeant and praying for accountability from the Biden administration for its handling of the withdrawal.
The murder of the unidentified ISIL (ISIS) group member, Hoover said, does not help them.
“No matter what happens, it’s not going to bring Taylor back and I understand that,” he said in a phone call. “About the only thing his mom and I can do right now is be an advocate for him. All we want is the truth. And we don’t get it. That’s the frustrating thing.”
His son and the other fallen soldiers were among those who screened the thousands of Afghans who frantically tried to board one of the overcrowded flights out of the country on August 26, 2021, following the Taliban takeover.
The scene of desperation quickly turned into one of horror when a suicide bomber attacked. The group ISIL (ISIS) has claimed responsibility.
The explosion at Abbey Gate came hours after Western officials warned of a major attack and urged people to leave the airport. But that advice was largely ignored by Afghans desperate to escape in the last few days of a US-led evacuation before the US officially ended its 20-year presence in the country.
The Afghanistan-based offshoot of ISIL (ISIS), with up to 4,000 members, is the Taliban’s most bitter enemy and greatest military threat. The group has continued to carry out attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, especially against the country’s minority groups.
After the Trump administration reached a deal with the Taliban to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan in 2020, the Biden administration continued that agreement in 2021.
There was hope in Washington that the Taliban’s desire for international recognition and aid for the country’s impoverished population might moderate their behavior.
But relations between the US and the Taliban have deteriorated significantly since they imposed new measures to ban girls from school and women from working for international aid and health organizations.
However, a line of communication still exists between the two sides, led by US Special Envoy to Afghanistan Tom West. West’s contacts are mainly with Taliban officials in Kabul and not with the group’s more ideological wing in Kandahar.
The withdrawal of US troops in August 2021 led to the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and military, which the US had supported for nearly two decades, and the return to power of the Taliban.
In the aftermath, President Joe Biden directed that a broad review “examine every aspect of this from top to bottom” and it was released earlier this month.
In the publicly released version of the review, the Biden administration largely blamed President Donald Trump for the chaotic 2021 withdrawal, which was interrupted by the Abbey Gate suicide bombing.
News of the assassination came on the same day Biden formally announced that he is seeking a second term as president, a reminder of one of the most difficult chapters of his presidency.
At the time, the disastrous withdrawal was the biggest crisis the relatively new government had faced. It left sharp questions about Biden and his team’s competence and experience — the two pillars central to his campaign for the White House.
