Relatives of Victims Killed in US Drone Strike Want Apology, Compensation
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According to the nephew of the man the US targeted by a drone for thinking he is an ISIS-K operative, the US made no direct contact with the family after killing 10 of its children.
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Relatives of the Ahmadi family gather around the incinerated husk of a vehicle targeted and hit by a US drone strike that left 10 dead, Kabul, Aug 30, 2021 (Getty Images).
Relatives of the victims of US brutality in Afghanistan - manifested in a drone strike that killed 10 civilians this time - demanded a face-to-face apology and compensation on Saturday.
The crime took place on August 29 when the United States tracked a white Toyota for 8 hours and wrongly identified its owner, Ezmarai Ahmadi, as an ISIS-K militant before targeting the car with a missile and murdering seven children and three adults.
A senior US general admitted the attack was a mistake, and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin apologized to the victims' relatives - an act that was seen as 'not enough' by Ahamdi's 22-year-old nephew, Farshad Haidari.
"They must come here and apologize to us face-to-face," Haidari told AFP from a modest, heavily damaged house in Kabul. Haidari also lost his brother Nasser and cousins. He said the United States never made any direct contact with the devastated family.
"They must come and compensate," he said. "They were not terrorists, and now it is clear for them and all the world to see," he said of his relatives, calling for the capturing and prosecution of those responsible for firing the missile.
According to Haidari, the majority of those murdered had worked with the United States. His brother, Naser, had worked with the US for nearly 10 years, and his uncle had been working with international organizations.
Also according to Haidari, Ahmadi had been working for a US aid group at the time of his murder.
On Wednesday, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he did not know whether the person killed by the US drone strike was an aid worker or an ISIS-K operative when asked about the strike before the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.
