Taliban kills bomb-planner at Kabul airport, reports Washington

The Taliban has killed the militant responsible for the deadly 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul International Airport, which claimed the lives of more than 180 people, including 13 US service members. Officials said the terrorist belonged to Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), an offshoot of Islamic State (IS) that is in conflict with the Taliban. Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told news organizations that the militant was killed earlier this month and that the US “was not involved in this operation.” The New York Times cited four US officials as saying that intelligence analysts first became aware of the ISIS-K operative’s death in early April and concluded with “high confidence” that the mastermind behind the attack had been killed. The White House has expressed confidence in its assessment of the bombing of a US service member in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021. Darin Hoover, the father of one of the slain service members, criticizes the White House for not sharing enough details, including the terrorist's name.

The US retaliated with a drone strike in Kabul on August 29, 2021, which the Pentagon admitted was a "tragic mistake" that only killed 10 civilians. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to fight the Taliban and other Islamist groups in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.