Zemerai Ahmadi was killed and nine of his relatives, including seven children, were hit by a hellfire missile in the final days of U.S. troop withdrawal.
Three Ahmadi brothers, who were just feet away from the site of the missile strike on Aug. 29, spoke out about their loss Tuesday. They stated that they have not heard from Washington regarding financial compensation or when they would be evacuated.
Ahmadi, 37 years old, was an employee for a long time of an American humanitarian organisation. After the Taliban’s takeover in August, the strike that claimed Ahmadi and his family members was carried out.
The attack also occurred just days after an Islamic State suicide bomber had killed 13 U.S. soldiers and 169 Afghans at Kabul’s airport gate. U.S. forces believed the car they were following was a threat and decided to strike.
The Ahmadis demanded punishment for those responsible for the strike and their relocation to the United States or another country that is safe for them.
According to John Kirby (chief Pentagon spokesperson), there were no discipline recommendations made by the generals.
Kirby stated that the U.S. is still willing to pay financial compensation for the Ahmadis, and possibly get them out Afghanistan. Kirby answered the question, “Why is it taking so long?”. The U.S. wants it to be done as quickly as possible.
Every day the Ahmadis remain in Kabul poses a risk to their safety. Emal Ahmadi said that rumors have it that the U.S. has already paid them. Criminals are keen to grab the money. The strike resulted in Malika, his 3-year-old daughter, being killed.
Emal, the youngest brother, said that they are also receiving phone threats. If they don’t send money, the callers threaten to murder them.
Emal said that people always ask us how much we have. Emal said that the U.S. has promised to evacuate the family but “we are still waiting.” We have not heard anything. … It is more dangerous for us to wait longer.
Romal Ahmadi’s three children, aged 2-7, were killed in the strike. These days are filled with depression and pain. He said, “I feel only pain.” He wanted the U.S. troops involved in the strike to be punished.
Romal stated, “But America is superpower.” “We are powerless to accomplish anything, so we leave it up to God to punish them.”
The U.S. was attempting to evacuate thousands of Americans and Afghans in the aftermath of the collapse of the Afghan government at the time of the strike.
The Pentagon claimed that it had killed a possible Islamic State operative several weeks later, despite mounting evidence that U.S. had wrongly executed the killing of the 10 Ahmadis. U.S. Marine General Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command called the strike a “tragic error” and stated that innocent civilians had been killed in the attack.
The Pentagon Review found that communication was not working properly in identifying and verifying the target of the bombing.
“All my children have disappeared. Romal stated that no one can bring them back.
