(RightWing.org) – The Biden administration is planning to pay off the survivors of August’s bungled Kabul airstrike that killed a friendly interpreter and nine members of his family. The Department of Defense (DOD) will use taxpayer money to sweep the tragic mistake under the rug.
On August 29, a US drone destroyed a van outside a home in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing ten people. Administration sources claimed the target was an ISIS-K terrorist leader responsible for the suicide attack that killed 182 people – including 13 US troops – at Kabul Airport three days earlier. However, locals insisted the victims were innocent civilians. In mid-September, the administration finally admitted it had killed the wrong people.
This is USA's answer. Just pay people off with taxpayer money when we screw up. US vows to pay relatives of Afghans killed in botched Kabul airstrike https://t.co/v8A3I5I6z3 via @nypost
— Danny Tarkanian (@DannyTarkanian) October 16, 2021
Now, the Pentagon plans to compensate surviving family members of Zemerai Ahmadi, who had worked for a US charity for 14 years as an engineer. DOD official Dr. Colin Kahl has met members of the family and offered “ex gratia condolence payments” to buy them off; so far, nobody is saying how much money the US is offering, but the family doesn’t really want money anyway – what they want is to relocate to the US, away from the Taliban.
Zemerai Ahmadi died because the Biden administration made a mistake. And now, in rushing to minimize the damage, it’s opening a huge can of worms. Over the last 20 years, thousands of Afghans have died in US drone strikes. The vast majority were Taliban or other insurgents, but inevitably there were hundreds of innocent victims too. Will they all receive monetary compensation and a new life in the US? And, if they do, how much will it cost?
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