The Pentagon on Wednesday released footage showing the final moments before 10 innocent Afghans, including seven children, were killed in an errant drone strike during the final days of the US pullout.
Videos from the two drones were released by US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversaw military operations in Afghanistan, after the New York Times filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the footage.
The drone strike took place on Aug. 29, three days after an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed 13 US service members and more than 180 Afghans outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The military, under intense pressure to thwart another attack before the evacuation operation concluded on Aug. 30, believed it was tracking an ISIS-K militant who was transporting bombs in a white Toyota Corolla through the streets of Kabul.
Blurry black-and-white footage from one of the drones high above the scene zooms in on a car traveling down a residential street and follows it as it backs into the courtyard of a house and people run toward the vehicle.
Suddenly the drone trembles, and moments later, a massive fireball from the Hellfire missile strike lights up the frame.
In the other video, which begins in color before turning black-and-white and is shot from a lower angle, the image shows the vehicle pulling under a canopy and people walking up to it.
Once again, the courtyard explodes as the video fades out for a few seconds.
When the picture returns, the car is consumed in a ball of flames that reaches above the rooftops, spewing thick black smoke.
After the strike, people run to the scene along the street and others on the roofs attempt to pour water on the engulfed vehicle.
Zemari Ahmadi, an Afghan employed by California-based Nutrition and Education International, and nine of his family members died in the botched strike.
Relatives told the Times that some children met Ahmadi as he arrived that day, with one clambering into his car, in the courtyard of a compound where four families lived.
In the days after the strike, military officials described a second explosion, and believed that justified their suspicion that the car had been carrying bombs. Later, the military attributed the explosion to a propane tank.
Ahmadi’s brother Emal, whose daughter Malika also died in the strike, told the Times he wanted to watch the video himself.
“It will be difficult for me but I want to see it,” he told the newspaper.
CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Bill Urban again apologized for the fatal foul-up Wednesday.
“While the strike was intended for what was believed to be an imminent threat to our troops at Hamid Karzai International Airport, none of the family members killed are now believed to have been connected to ISIS-K or threats to our troops,” he said. “We deeply regret the loss of life that resulted from this strike.”
Following an investigation, the Pentagon announced in December that no US military personnel involved in the strike would face disciplinary action.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved recommendations by Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of CENTCOM, and Gen. Richard Clarke, the leader of US Special Operations Command, that no troops be disciplined over the tragedy, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at the time.
According to Kirby, “there was not a strong enough case to be made for personal accountability” in McKenzie’s and Clarke’s recommendations.