Video analysis shows the U.S is likely to have struck an “aid worker” rather than Daesh terrorists in its final strike in Afghanistan which also killed 10 civilians.

The Pentagon had claimed, on August 29, it disrupted a new attack planned by the Daesh terror group through a Reaper drone strike. That was one day before U.S. troops ended their 20-year occupation and followed a deadly incident outside the airport where vast crowds rushed to leave the victorious Taliban.

But Kabul resident Aimal Ahmadi earlier told media outlets that the strike killed 10 civilians including his small daughter, nephews, nieces and his brother Ezmarai Ahmadi, who was driving the car that was struck after he parked the vehicle.

Now, the New York Times, analyzing security camera footage, says the U.S. military may have been seeing the slain Ahmadi and a colleague loading canisters of water, which was in short supply after the collapse of the former government, and picking up a laptop for his boss.

Friends and relatives say Ezmarai Ahmadi was an electrical engineer for the California-based aid and lobbying group Nutrition and Education International and himself was among thousands of Afghans who had applied for resettlement in the United States.

U.S. officials allege that a larger explosion took place after the drone strike, claiming that there were explosives in the vehicle.

But the New York Times investigation said there was no evidence of a second explosion, with only one dent on a nearby gate and no clear signs of an additional blast such as blown-out walls.

Aimal Ahmadi earlier told AFP that 10 civilians were killed while U.S. officials have acknowledged three civilians had been killed but claimed that the strike prevented another deadly attack.

Commenting on the New York Times report, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that U.S. Central Command “continues to assess” the strike but claims “no other military works harder than we do to prevent civilian casualties.”

“As Chairman (Mark) Milley said, the strike was based on good intelligence, and we still believe that it prevented an imminent threat to the airport and to our men and women that were still serving at the airport” Kirby said, referring to the top U.S. general.

The New York Times noted that a rocket attack the following morning, claimed by the Daesh Takfiri group, was carried out from a Toyota Corolla similar to Ahmadi’s.

Hundreds of thousands of Afghan and Pakistani civilians have died directly from the war launched by the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

According to a Brown University study in April, casualties rose dramatically after then President Donald Trump relaxed rules of engagement in 2017.

As the United States departed the country after 20 years, it has not exactly left behind the best of legacies.

According to the World Food Program (WFP) 93-percent of Afghan families are not consuming sufficient food, the World Food Program says three out of four households are using extreme coping mechanisms, such as skipping meals or preferring to give food to children instead of adults.

The WFP conducted a telephone survey from June 17 to September 5, asking 1,600 random households per month about their food habits. The agency reported a “marked difference” between the period up to the 15th of August and then following the 20th of August.

The WFP’s deputy regional director for Asia and the Pacific, Anthea Webb, says “the portion of families resorting to extreme coping mechanisms, those are things like skipping meals or preferring to give food to children instead of adults or limiting portion’ sizes to make food last longer had almost doubled”,

Afghanistan is facing economic collapse after foreign countries and institutions said they would withhold aid and monetary reserves after the Taliban retook control of the capital Kabul on August 15.

“It’s now a race against time and the snow to deliver life-saving assistance to the Afghan people who need it most. We need to be reaching 9 million people per month by November if we are to meet our planned target of 14 million by the end of the year” Webb says, urging donors to fill the 200 million dollars’ appeal ahead of an international aid conference for Afghanistan on September 13.

Many Afghans were struggling to feed their families amid severe drought well before the Taliban seized power last month and millions may now face starvation with the country isolated and the economy unraveling, aid agencies say.

According to the WFP, food prices have spiked since the second drought in four years ruined some 40% of the wheat crop.

Webb says “people do not have access to the money they need to buy food, food’s prices have gone up, and fuel prices have gone up. There simply is an inability for the poorest people and very soon the not so poor people to be able to buy enough food to survive”.

Malnutrition already affects one in two children under the age of five in Afghanistan, where 14 million people or one-third of the population faces “acute food insecurity,” the WFP says.

The World Food Program’s latest assessment says that 15 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces showed less food consumption in the last month, the worst-hit being Ghazni, Khost, and Paktika in the country’s east.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed for an injection of cash into Afghanistan to avoid an economic meltdown that would spark a “catastrophic” situation for the Afghan people and be a “gift for terrorist groups.”

His remarks come after his special envoy on Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, warned the Security Council that the freezing of billions of dollars in international Afghan assets to keep them out of Taliban hands would inevitably spark “a severe economic downturn.”

Speaking to reporters Guterres said “at the present moment the UN is not even able to pay its salaries to its own workers. We need to find ways to avoid a situation that would be catastrophic for the people and, in my opinion, a source of instability, and an action, gift for terrorist groups still operating there”

Al-Qaeda and a Daesh affiliate as well as other terrorist groups have a presence in Afghanistan.

Initially Washington claimed the Taliban had given Al-Qaeda a safe haven, using that as a pretext to invade the country, but the U.S. occupation has given birth to many other terrorist groups.

Guterres said he had been speaking with International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva, telling reporters it was essential to agree on waivers or mechanisms to get money into Afghanistan. The IMF has blocked the Taliban from accessing some $440 million in new emergency reserves.

The United Nations is working to ensure it can continue its humanitarian work in Afghanistan, where at least 18 million people, half the country’s population, already need help.

Guterres added “we are permanently engaging with the Taliban and we believe that the dialogue with the Taliban is absolutely essential at the present moment”.

Much of the Afghan central bank’s $10 billion in assets are also parked overseas, where they have been frozen by the United States, since the Taliban came to power last month, and are considered a key instrument for the West to pressure the group.

Critics say Washington is punishing the entire Afghan population by freezing the country’s assets because of its embarrassing defeat and exit from the country.

It’s not exactly the liberation, freedom and prosperity America pledged to provide the people of Afghanistan when it invaded the country in 2001.

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All U.S. service members have now departed, bringing an end to a 20-year military occupation that claimed the lives of more than 2,400 American  troops and hundreds of thousands of Afghans. The financial loss for the U.S. taxpayers has been at least $2 trillion, although experts say this is a conservative figure and does not include others aspects, such as future costs for injured veterans.

During a news conference at the Pentagon headquarters, the head of U.S. Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, announced the “completion of our withdrawal” He said the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Ross Wilson, was onboard the final flight from Kabul.

McKenzie said, “the last C-17 lifted off on 30 August at 3.29pm (EDT) and the last manned aircraft is clearing the airspace above Afghanistan now”.

He noted that since August 14th, the U.S. and its allies had evacuated 123,000 people, following the Taliban’s swift takeover.

“The withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation, but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after September 11, 2001,” he said.

“The cost was 2,461 U.S. service members and civilians killed and more than 20,000 who were injured. Sadly, that includes 13 U.S. service members who were killed last week”.

In another sign of the desperate evacuation process, McKenzie admitted U.S. forces destroyed, at the last moment, 73 American aircraft at Kabul airport as well as scores of armored vehicles and a high-tech rocket defense system.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf confirmed “the last U.S. soldier has left Kabul airport and our country gained complete independence”

It’s the first time in almost 20 years that no foreign soldiers have any presence on Afghanistan’s soil.

Following the departure announcement of U.S.-led foreign forces; celebratory gunfire erupted across the capital. Fireworks also lit up the sky above Kabul as the Taliban celebrated.

Media reports describe “the closing hours of the evacuation were marked by extraordinary drama, American troops faced the daunting task of getting final evacuees onto planes while also getting themselves and some of their equipment out”

Following the withdrawal, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement “now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended”, that the world would hold the Taliban to their commitment to allow safe passage for those to want to leave Afghanistan.

Biden added that “it was the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned. Their view was that ending our military mission was the best way to protect the lives of our troops”.

During a briefing, U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, announced Washington has suspended its diplomatic presence in Kabul and transferred its operations to Doha, Qatar. He says “given the uncertain security environment and political situation in Afghanistan, it was the prudent step to take”

Highlighting the path ahead for Washington; Blinken claims that the U.S. will “maintain robust counterterrorism capabilities in the region”.

He noted the U.S. will engage with the Taliban but not rely on them, saying “going forward any engagement with the Taliban will be driven by one thing only: our national interests”. He added “every step we take will be based not on what a Taliban government says but by its actions”

However, the remarks have not gone down well on Capitol Hill; many in Congress are furious at the White House. Among the damning assessments by U.S. Senators was one by Senator Ben Sasse, who said:

“This national disgrace is the direct result of President Biden’s cowardice and incompetence. The President made the decision to trust the Taliban. The President made the decision to set an arbitrary August 31st deadline. The President made the decision to abandon Bagram Air Base. The President made the decision not to expand the perimeter around Karzai International Airport. The President made the decision to undermine our NATO allies”.

Senator Sasse goes on to say “The President made the decision to break our word to our Afghan partners. The President made the decision to tell one lie after another as the crisis unfolded. The President made the morally indefensible decision to leave Americans behind. Dishonor was the President’s choice. May history never forget this cowardice”.

Other congress members have said the embarrassing withdrawal for Washington is a culmination of the measures taken by four consecutive U.S. administrations that presided over the two-decade occupation.

Elsewhere, it has been revealed that the Pentagon was prepared for a mass casualty event hours before Thursday’s bomb attack at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport.

According to detailed notes of classified calls provided to U.S. news site, Politico, the Pentagon was aware of an imminent attack at Kabul Airport hours before the explosion killed nearly 200 people including 13 American troops.

The news site says top Pentagon officials held a meeting, discussed the options and decided to keep the so-called Abbey Gate section of the International airport open longer so that evacuations could continue.

A second defense official says the intelligence about the security threat at Kabul airport detailed on the calls was relayed up and down the chain of command.

The Pentagon has strongly condemned the release of the information.

Spokesperson, John Kirby, told the news website “this story is based on the unlawful disclosure of classified information and internal deliberations of a sensitive nature”.

Kirby added “as soon as we became aware of the material divulged to the reporter, we engaged Politico at the highest levels to prevent the publication of information”

The Pentagon also says “we condemn the unlawful disclosure of classified information and oppose the publication of a story based on it while a dangerous operation is ongoing”.

The White House refused to comment further, but the information could be explosive for the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, U.S. led Western powers have been forced to accept the reality of the Taliban’s control as they backed a watered down UN resolution that says it “expects” the Taliban to honor a commitment to allow Afghans to leave the country and “requests” that Kabul airport be securely reopened, but falls short of demanding a UN-sponsored safe zone in the Afghan capital.

The UNSC resolution indicates no specific reprisal if Afghanistan is sealed off following the 31 August deadline for the final U.S. withdrawal that ends its battle to crush the Taliban.

The draft from the 15-strong council, co-written by the U.S., UK and France, simply notes a “statement of 27 August, 2021, in which the Taliban committed that Afghans will be able to travel abroad” and “expects that the Taliban will adhere to these and all other commitments”.

The text also “calls on the relevant parties to work with international partners to take steps to strengthen security and to prevent further casualties, and requests that every effort be made to allow for the rapid and secure reopening of Kabul airport and its surrounding area”.

The text in effect leaves the security of the airport to the Taliban. However it remains unclear if and when the Taliban can operate the international airport.

The attempt to keep the Security Council united means no specific consequence is spelt out if the Taliban does not heed the calls in the resolution.

The final result will be viewed as a setback for France, which at the weekend led calls for a UN safe zone. Britain widely saw the proposal as ineffective without the presence of the UN or other troops.

At the session, China heavily condemned the nations that occupied Afghanistan saying they should learn a lesson from the 20 years disaster. Beijing’s envoy to the UNSC also says Afghans should be left alone to decide their future

With a new chapter emerging and uncertainty in the air, Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, gave an indication of what lies ahead in the immediate future by sharing a statement by the group’s political office in Doha, Qatar in which the Taliban calls on employees of all universities in Afghanistan to resume their work from Tuesday.

The statement says both male and female employees should return to work adding the Ministry of Higher Education calls on rectors, deans, professors and administrative staff to report to their jobs on Tuesday. The statement concludes they should “resume their administrative and academic works including making due preparations for starting classes.”

The United States led the invasion of Afghanistan in early 2020, with the aim of toppling the Taliban rule. 20 years later, it has fled with the Taliban returning to governance. During those 20 years, Afghan civilians have suffered significantly with their lives. Massive U.S. tax money has gone to waste, money that could have closed the gap on growing inequality in America or going to much needed services back home.

The U.S. military industrial complex made a nice profit and can be considered the only winners of this catastrophic military adventure; the longest in America’s history. In terms of the war itself, it has been a humiliating defeat for Washington and its Western allies.

The abandonment of former President Ashraf Ghani amid the swift Taliban takeover of the country and the capital Kabul, is a message to other nations in West Asia.

Those who rely on Washington for security will be alarmed as to how a government and its forces collapsed so quickly after two decades of American investment in resources and troops, and how Washington was unable or unwilling to anticipate the collapse.

At the same time, the chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee of Yemen says Saudi Arabia and its U.S. backed ally should take a lesson from Afghanistan and devise a plan to end the nearly seven year war.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi says “the Yemeni nation will never accept occupation and guardianship, no matter how long the conflicts and confrontations last”.

He adds “Yemen will be the graveyard of the aggressors”.

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