The terrorist leader responsible for planning the attack on Abbey Gate during the evacuation from Kabul airport that killed 13 American service members was killed in a Taliban operation in Afghanistan, two U.S. officials said Tuesday.
The U.S. government had no part in the Taliban raid, which took place in recent weeks, said a senior administration official, who like others interviewed for this story who were granted anonymity to speak ahead of a formal U.S. announcement. The officials declined to say exactly when the raid occurred, or name the terrorist killed, citing “sensitivities.”
“The ISIS-K member most responsible for that horrific attack has now been killed in a Taliban operation,” said the senior official, referring to the Islamic State Khorasan, the branch operating in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia.
The official described the target as the “mastermind” of the airport attack, noting that “he was someone who remained a key plotter, an overseer of plotting for ISIS-K.”
After U.S. officials learned of the Taliban operation, the intelligence community worked with the military in recent days to independently confirm the terrorist’s death with “a high level of confidence,” the official said. The Biden administration is holding off on announcing the news until the family members of the victims of the Abbey Gate attack have been notified.
“We are not partnering with the Taliban, but we do think the outcome is a significant one,” the senior official said.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized the chaotic withdrawal after the rapid collapse of the Afghan government in August, 2021. They have also questioned whether the Biden administration has the ability to prevent another terrorist attack on the homeland without a presence on the ground in Afghanistan.
But the senior administration official noted that the Taliban operation validates Biden’s decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.
It “reflects moreover the president’s judgment that we did not need to remain on the ground, in harm’s way, in Afghanistan in perpetuity in order to effectively address any threat that might emanate from Afghanistan,” the official said.
The U.S. government has been hunting the Islamic State member responsible for the attack since Aug. 26, 2021, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device outside of the Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport where U.S. service members were working to evacuate American citizens and at-risk Afghans. In addition to the service members killed, at least 170 Afghans also died in the attack.
At the time, ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the bombing. After an investigation, the Pentagon concluded that it was the result of a single bomber, not the “complex” attack U.S. officials initially described.
Since the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan on Aug. 31, 2021, Pentagon officials have warned that ISIS-K is becoming an increasing threat. In October of that year, Colin Kahl, the undersecretary for policy, told lawmakers that the group could be able to launch attacks on the West and its allies within six months to two years.
Although the U.S. military no longer has a presence on the ground in Afghanistan, the U.S. still maintains an “over-the-horizon” capability to hunt terrorists there, military leaders have said. The Pentagon has conducted a number of operations in the country since August 2021, including one that resulted in the death of 9/11 architect and al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in August of 2022.