Survivors Of A U.S. Drone Strike In Kabul Want An Investigation And Compensation

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The Ahmadi family pray Monday at the cemetery next to family graves of family members killed by a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan.





Bernat Armangue/AP



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«That is not enough for us to say sorry, said Ahmadi. «The U.S.A. should find the person who did this.

Ahmadi said the family is also seeking financial compensation for their losses and demanded that several members of the family be relocated to a third country, without specifying which country.

The AP and other news organizations in Kabul reported after the strike that the driver of the targeted vehicle, Zemerai Ahmadi, was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organization and cited an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon’s assertion that the vehicle contained explosives.


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U.S. Military Admits A Kabul Drone Strike Hit Civilian Vehicle, Not ISIS


U.S. Military Admits A Kabul Drone Strike Hit Civilian Vehicle, Not ISIS





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The missile struck as the car was pulling into the family’s driveway and the children ran to greet Zemerai.

On Friday, U.S. Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, called the strike a «tragic mistake, and after weeks of denials, said that innocent civilians were indeed killed in the attack and not an Islamic State extremist as was announced earlier.





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An Afghan inspects the damage of the Ahmadi family’s house in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday.





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National Security
Reports: U.S. Drone Strike Targeted Aid Worker Carrying Water, Not Explosives

In the days before the Pentagon’s apology, accounts from the family, documents from colleagues seen by The AP and the scene at the family home — where Zemerai’s car was struck by the missile — all sharply contradicted the accounts by the U.S. military. Instead, they painted the picture of a family that had worked for Americans and were trying to gain visas to the U.S., fearing for their lives under the Taliban.

Zemerai was the family’s breadwinner had looked after his three brothers, including Emal, and their children.

«Now I am then one who is responsible for all my family and I am jobless, said Emal Ahmadi. The situation «is not good, said Ahmadi of life under the Taliban. International aid groups and the United Nations have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis that could drive most Afghans below the poverty level.



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McKenzie said the decision to strike a white Toyota Corolla sedan, after having tracked it for about eight hours, was made in an «earnest belief — based on a standard of «reasonable certainty — that it posed an imminent threat to American forces at the Kabul airport. The car was believed to have been carrying explosives in its trunk, he said.

But Ahmadi wondered how the his family’s home could have been mistaken for an Islamic State hideout.

«The U.S.A. can see from everywhere, he said of U.S. drone capabilities. «They can see that there were innocent children near the car and in the car. Whoever did this should be punished.

«It isn’t right, he added.

• Kabul


• Afghanistan