“There were not enough solid elements to hold personal responsibilities”
US soldiers involved in a drone strike that killed 10 civilians including seven children in Kabul at the end of August will not be punished, the Pentagon announced on Monday.
“There was not enough solid evidence to hold personal responsibility,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
The decision concerning this strike, which took place in the last days of the American presence in Afghanistan, was taken by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin after a report by two senior officers.
The first is the head of Centcom, the military region that includes Afghanistan. The second is the chief of special operations.
Neither officer issued a recommendation for individual sanctions, said John Kirby.
As early as November 3, the Pentagon had claimed that the strike in Kabul on August 29 was a tragic error but that it had not violated the laws of war.
“The investigation did not identify any violations of the law, including the law of war,” Lt. Gen. Sami Said, an official at the Defense Ministry, said in a report.
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