The mastermind of the suicide attack near Kabul airport in August 2021, which killed at least 173 people, including 13 American soldiers, was allegedly killed by the Taliban, several American media reported on Tuesday April 25.
The terrorist, whose identity has not been specified, nor the manner or date of his death, was a leader of the Islamic State-Khorasan (EI-K) group, according to American officials questioned under cover of anonymity by The
Washington Post
.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on August 26, 2021, when US troops withdrew from Afghanistan.
The images of the chaotic evacuation had shocked the United States and toured the world.
The United States was not involved in this operation carried out by the Taliban, according to the same sources.
Intelligence is looking to confirm the death and the Biden administration would wait to notify all families of US military personnel killed before making an announcement, sources told
Politico
.
The
New York Times
specifies, him, that the government would have started to call the relatives of the victims Monday, according to the
New York Times
, which specifies that the American intelligence would have learned this information at the beginning of April.
“I want to emphasize that this development illustrates the continued counterterrorism pressure in the face of ISIS in Afghanistan and elsewhere
,” a Biden administration official told The
Washington Post
.
“We see this operation as emblematic of an Afghanistan that has become a difficult environment for terrorists like those in ISIS who would harm Americans
,” he added.
No other “scenario”
On August 30, 2021, one minute before midnight, the last American soldier had flown out of the Afghan capital's airport 24 hours ahead of the deadline set by the American president for the withdrawal of troops from the country.
The Taliban had already regained power.
The withdrawal ended the longest US military intervention, which began in response to the September 11, 2001 attack. It claimed the lives of more than 2,400 American soldiers over nearly 20 years, according to the US military. .
In early April, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby defended the way the withdrawal was carried out.
The American executive notably published a document concluding that there was no other
“scenario”
conceivable, unless maintaining in the country a reinforced and permanent American military force to fight the Taliban.