Der letzte US-Drohnenangriff in Kabul: Ahnungslos auf den Falschen
Kurz vor dem endgültigen Abzug aus Kabul und dem Ende der militärischen Evakuierungsoperation haben die USA in der afghanischen Hauptstadt einen Drohnenangriff auf einen angeblichen Selbstmordattentäter geflogen. Nach Recherchen der New York Times trafen schlampige Aufklärungsarbeit und der Wille zum Zuschlagen einen Unschuldigen.
Die Recherche-Ergebnisse der Zeitung zeigenvor allem eines: Das US-Militär verließ sich auf eine ungenügende Einschätzung und mangelhafte Informationen und interpretierte allein das Verhaltensmuster einer Person als Beleg dafür, dass es sich um einen Selbstmordattentäter des Islamischen Staats handeln könnte. Mit einer Hellfire-Rakete wurde dann ein Mitarbeiter einer Hilfsorganisation getötet, dessen Bewegungen in der Stadt – in einem weißen Toyota, mit großen Wasserkanistern – den Drohnen-Operateure als Grund für einen Angriff reichte.
Das entscheidende Rechercheergebnis der New York Times:
Our reporting concludes that the U.S. military struck a car parked inside a multi-family home in Kabul without knowing who the driver was, what he did for a living or where he lived. Fearing an attack, they interpreted an average day in his life as the behavior of a terrorist.
Im Hinblick auf die deutsche Debatte über bewaffnete Drohnen, für die dieser Vorfall sicherlich eine Rolle spielen wird, ein Hinweis: Der Angriff sagt weniger über die verwendete militärische Technik, also die Drohne, sondern mehr über Aufklärungsarbeit und die schnelle Bereitschaft eines überforderten – oder ängstlichen – militärischen Apparates zum tödlichen Angriff außerhalb von Kriegshandlungen gegen Zivilisten. Wäre der tödliche Schlag von einem Hubschrauber, einem Jet oder vom Boden abgefeuert worden, wäre das Ergebnis das gleiche gewesen.
Die Visual Story der New York Times im verlinkten Video oben und auf der Webseite hier; darüber hinaus hat das Blatt die Ergebnisse in einem Twitter-Thread zusammengefasst. Zur Dokumentation:
The final act of the U.S. war in Afghanistan was a drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 people. Our latest investigation shows how a man the military saw as an „imminent threat“ and „ISIS facilitator“ was actually an aid worker returning to his family: https://t.co/eUX5WSImrD
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
The military said it believed Zemari Ahmadi’s white Toyota Corolla, which it tracked by drone for eight hours that day, was packed with explosives. Security camera video we obtained showed him loading it with water containers for his home. I’ll detail our findings in this thread. pic.twitter.com/1hEaFBmcDo
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
Ahmadi was a 14-year employee of Nutrition & Education International, a U.S. NGO that fights malnutrition. He helped start up soy factories, repair machinery, transport his colleagues and distribute food from his Corolla to displaced Afghans. pic.twitter.com/S7r1TyHBs0
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
Aug. 29, according to his family and colleagues, was a normal day for Ahmadi. He left home around 9am, picked up 2 colleagues and his boss’s laptop, stopped for breakfast, and headed to the office in the Karte Seh neighborhood.
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
But the U.S. military was on high alert. Three days earlier, an Islamic State suicide attack at the Kabul airport had killed 13 troops and more than 170 Afghans. “All threat warnings are flashing red,” a senior official told us. They expected another attack. pic.twitter.com/2haQhzhhHo
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
At around the time Ahmadi was picking up his colleagues, the U.S. military said it observed a white sedan emerge from an Islamic State safehouse near Ahmadi’s home, 5km northwest of the airport. Intercepted communications from the safehouse gave the sedan instructions, they said. pic.twitter.com/v7OUg1uRQF
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
But @mattaikins interviewed all 5 men who were in the car with Ahmadi that day. They said that what the military interpreted as a series of suspicious moves represented a typical day in his life. He drove his colleagues around town, where they made plans for food distributions. pic.twitter.com/qD08rGmomI
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
The office security camera we obtained is crucial to understand what happens next. Though the camera settings are off, @mattaikins verified its time by visiting the office, and @ckoettl matched what we see on camera with timestamped satellite imagery. pic.twitter.com/luLCQXgkpn
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
At 2:35pm, Ahmadi and a colleague fill several large plastic containers with water. The footage shows Ahmadi bring them to the office earlier that day. His brother told us his neighborhood suffered from a water shortage and that he routinely filled up containers at the office. pic.twitter.com/GqzL8NeXmy
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
At 3:38pm, a colleague drives Ahmadi’s car farther into the office driveway. At roughly the same time, the military said, the drone team saw Ahmadi’s car pull into an „unknown compound“ 8 to 12 kilometers southwest of the airport. pic.twitter.com/BlYOmZ0yOc
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
The location of the „unknown compound“ overlaps with the location of the NGO’s office, and the military told us that they only saw the white sedan at one location that afternoon. We believe that what the military called an unknown compound was in fact the NGO’s office.
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
With the work day ending, an employee switches off the office generator, and the camera goes dark. The military said it now saw four men load wrapped packages into the car. Ahmadi’s colleagues said they were stowing laptop bags, which the footage shows here, earlier in the day. pic.twitter.com/24ocATEN2T
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
Ahmadi drops his colleagues off and turns onto his street. His and his brothers’ children surround the car, his relatives said. The family has a habit of letting kids steer the car into the courtyard of their home. Somehow, the military said, the drone team sees none of this. pic.twitter.com/HjRbHxN5QX
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
The drone team hasn’t been watching Ahmadi’s home at all. They quickly scan the courtyard, an official told us, and see only an adult male talking to the driver. Fearing the car, which they believe has explosives, will soon head to the airport, they fire.
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
The decision to strike does not flow down the typical chain of command. Because of the chaos of the Kabul airport evacuation, an official told us, President Biden and the military have delegated the authority to approve airstrikes to lower-level commanders.
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
An MQ-9 Reaper drone fires one 20lb Hellfire missile at the car. The military says that the strike sets off large secondary explosions, suggesting the presence of a significant amount of explosives. pic.twitter.com/RKybbVkUYF
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
We gathered photos and videos of the scene taken by journalists, and @mattaikins visited the courtyard multiple times. We shared that evidence with three experts. All three agreed that the damage was consistent with a single Hellfire strike, and not large secondary explosions. pic.twitter.com/HUXcZFHwCL
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
There is one other detail visible in the wreckage: destroyed plastic containers, identical to the ones that we saw Ahmadi and his colleague fill with water and load into his trunk before heading home. The military told us they never saw them being loaded. pic.twitter.com/YB0ioe1BZ1
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
The morning after the U.S. drone strike killed Ahmadi and 9 others, the Islamic State did launch rockets at the airport, firing from an area that Ahmadi had driven through the previous day, and using a white Toyota to do so. pic.twitter.com/TPVu9Mwv0O
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
Our reporting concludes that the U.S. military struck a car parked inside a multi-family home in Kabul without knowing who the driver was, what he did for a living or where he lived. Fearing an attack, they interpreted an average day in his life as the behavior of a terrorist.
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
Four days before Ahmadi was killed, his employer had applied for his family to receive refugee resettlement in the U.S. At the time of the strike, they were still awaiting approval. Looking to the U.S. for protection, they became some of the last victims in America’s longest war. pic.twitter.com/3IcgTyc5ca
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
Watch our full investigation here: https://t.co/eUX5WSImrD
— Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021
@TW mein Kompliment zu diesem Beitrag.
Der Schluss „im Hinblick auf die deutsche Debatte über bewaffnete Drohnen“ ist zu ziehen, ja.
Den Hinweis: „Der Angriff sagt weniger über die verwendete militärische Technik, also die Drohne, sondern mehr über Aufklärungsarbeit und die schnelle Bereitschaft eines überforderten – oder ängstlichen – militärischen Apparates zum tödlichen Angriff außerhalb von Kriegshandlungen gegen Zivilisten.“ teile ich nicht. Zusammengekommen mit der technischen Möglichkeit zuzuschlagen ist da der innenpolitische Druck in den USA zuzuschlagen.
Es geht um die medial verfasste Öffentlichkeit in westlichen demokratischen Staaten. Die zu debattierende Frage ist nach meiner Einschätzung: Ist ein Mittel (Drohne etc.) verantwortbar bei einer so verfassten Öffentlichkeit?
Traurig. Erschütternd. Und wieder eine neue Saat für zukünftigen Hass ausgebracht.
Ganz böse Falle sollte es so sein. Und es hat mit Drohen als solches nichts zu tun. Im Grunde Totschlag. Mit allen Konsequenzen. Bis nach recht weit oben.
I can only imagine the face of dismay that that Oberstleutnant who said the Bundeswehr would lose against Azerbaijan makes when he see politicians make a public fuss against armed drones procurement.
[Wäre nett, wenn berücksichtigt würde, dass die Sprache der Debatte hier Deutsch ist. Und warum diese Entscheidung in Afghanistan etwas mit dem von Ihnen angesprochenen Punkt zu tun haben soll, erschließt sich auch nicht. T.W.]
@all
Mit der Bitte um Verständnis: So interessant die Debatte über diesen NYT-Bericht ist, hier kann sie jetzt leider die kommende Woche nicht stattfinden, da ich wg. Urlaubs die Kommentarfunktion abschalten muss.
„ Mit einer Hellfire-Rakete wurde dann ein Mitarbeiter einer Hilfsorganisation getötet, “
Sowie 9 weitere Zivilisten. Für die einen doof gelaufen, für die anderen ein Kriegsverbrechen.