Tuesday marks the second anniversary of the killing of Anisa Ahmadi's husband, three of her sons, and a grandchild by the United States military, but she marks this anniversary as a refugee in the same country that took them all away from her.
Anisa Ahmadi is the widow of Zemari Ahmadi, a former aid worker for Nutrition and Education International, who was killed along with nine others in Afghanistan on Aug. 29, 2021. The U.S. military incorrectly concluded that Ahmadi was a terrorist who posed an imminent threat to U.S. forces, who were conducting a massive evacuation from the Hamid Karzai International Airport. Thirteen U.S. troops had been killed three days earlier in a suicide bombing at the gates while government officials warned that there was a high chance for a second attack.
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Department of Defense and U.S. Central Command officials initially said they carried out a successful strike, while a CENTCOM spokesman went as far as to say "significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material," though officials have since admitted that they targeted an innocent man who had no terrorist ties and posed no threat to U.S. troops.
“Words cannot describe my grief since the drone strike, or the impact it has had on me and my family to lose so many people we loved and cherished,” Anisa Ahmadi said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner by the ACLU, which represents the family. “We still have a long road ahead but I am grateful we have finally been evacuated after months of waiting and desperation. I pray now for peace and for us to be able to have safe and secure lives.”
In addition to Ahmadi, those that were killed were three of his children, Zamir, 20, Faisal, 16, and Farzad, 10; Emal and Royeena Ahmadi’s daughter, Malika, 6; Romal and Arezo Ahmadi’s three children, Arwin, 7, Benyamen, 6, and Ayat, 2; Jamshid and Soma Yousufi’s daughter, Sumaya, 2; and Mr. Ahmadi’s nephew Naser Haidari, 30.
Six of nine witnesses referenced in CENTCOM documents obtained by the New York Times in a Freedom of Information Act request said they learned within the immediate aftermath that there were civilians in the area of the strike that may have been killed, and within three hours, analysts came to believe that three children had been killed.
U.S. military officials followed a white Toyota Corolla for roughly eight hours before launching the strike on that day. They had intelligence to suggest another attack was imminent and would be carried out by ISIS-K operatives using a car of that make and model. U.S. Air Force Inspector General Lt. Gen. Sami Said investigated the strike and concluded there were no illegalities, though he highlighted the role confirmation bias played in their intelligence gathering ahead of the strike, including with the supposed confirmation that Ahmadi's Toyota was the one to target.
The Pentagon agreed to remove the Ahmadi family from Afghanistan after it admitted fault, in part because any sort of ex gratia payment would paint a target on their backs with the Taliban, who had overthrown the U.S.-backed government weeks earlier, or any other bad actors in the country.
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“It has been a privilege for us to support our courageous clients and NEI throughout this traumatic time,” Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, told the Washington Examiner. “Although it took many excruciating months longer than our clients and we expected, we appreciate that U.S. government officials have worked to ensure resettlement of most of our clients from their perilous situation. After enduring unspeakable loss and ongoing trauma because of our government’s actions, leaving Afghanistan is the first step for these families to start rebuilding their lives. We remain deeply concerned about the fate of two families who are still desperately awaiting evacuation.”
Brett Max Kaufman, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU, said on last year's anniversary that less than a dozen of the 144 people they promised to get out with ties to the Ahmadi family had made it to the U.S., while this year the ACLU said only two families remain in Afghanistan awaiting resettlement.