According to US authorities, the Taliban leadership executed the alleged planner of a catastrophic suicide bomb strike at Kabul airport during the chaotic withdrawal of US forces in 2021.
On August 26, 2021, a bomber detonated near the airport’s fence as people attempted to depart Afghanistan. The explosion killed 170 Afghans as well as 13 US servicemen who were preparing the airport for the tragic evacuation.
It was one of the deadliest explosions in Afghanistan in recent years, prompting widespread condemnation of President Joe Biden’s plan to withdraw American forces from the country nearly 20 years after the US invasion.
A senior US government official told Politico on condition of anonymity that the leader of the Islamic State cell that plotted the attack was executed by Taliban authorities in recent weeks.
According to the official, the US was not involved in the raid and would not reveal when it took place or identify the accused IS member slain due to “sensitivities.”
However, the person stated that the target “was someone who remained a key plotter, an overseer of plotting for ISIS-K,” referring to the group’s branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to the official, US intelligence has been trying to confirm the assassination, and the Biden administration has been waiting to inform the families of the 13 US troops.
“We are not partnering with the Taliban, but we do think the outcome is a significant one,” the senior official told Politico.
The pullout, ending on August 30, 2021, saw Taliban fighters sweep aside Western-trained Afghan forces in just weeks, forcing the last US troops to mount the desperate evacuation from Kabul’s airport.
An unprecedented military airlift operation managed to get more than 120,000 people out of the country in a matter of days.
