The Taliban has reportedly killed the leader of the Islamic State responsible for the suicide bombing that killed 180 people, including more than 10 US soldiers, at Kabul Airport in 2021.
The Islamic State (IS) leader, whose identity remains undisclosed, was killed during the Taliban’s operations against the IS group in southern Afghanistan earlier this month. At the time of the operations, the Taliban did not know the identity of the person they had killed.
The US military informed the families of the fallen service members of the development but did not provide them with any additional information regarding the identity of the IS leader or the circumstances of his death.
The father of one of the deceased US Marine Corps staff sergeants expressed his disappointment with the limited information provided by the US Marines. Darin Hoover, the killed soldier’s father, and other families formed a private group messaging chat to support each other after the 2021 bombing. They were informed of the development on Monday evening through the chat. For the last 18 months, Hoover and Kelly Henson have been grieving the death of their child and actively praying for accountability from the Biden administration regarding the handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
The suicide bombing occurred at Abbey Gate on August 26, 2021, hours after Western officials warned of a major attack and advised people to leave the airport. The Taliban, with up to 4,000 members, is the top military threat to the Afghanistan-based IS group and its bitter enemy. Recently, both groups have been responsible for carrying out multiple attacks on civilians and military personnel in Afghanistan.
The hasty retreat of the US military from Afghanistan caused the Afghan government and military, which had received US support for nearly 20 years, to crumble abruptly, ultimately leading to the resurgence of the Taliban.
A report published earlier this month about the withdrawal primarily held former President Trump accountable for the situation, asserting that President Biden’s choices were heavily limited due to the actions of his predecessor.
