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Rep. McCaul: Requested airstrike denied before 2021 Kabul bombing

  • Tuesday marks two years since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan
  • Rep. McCaul says a requested airstrike was denied before the Kabul bombing
  • McCaul demands 'transparency' from the Biden administration

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(NewsNation) — Two years after the Taliban rolled into Kabul as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan, new information is coming to light about an airstrike that was requested just before the 2021 Kabul airport suicide bombing.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says American intelligence on the ground in Afghanistan requested an airstrike against some ISIS targets just before the bombing that killed 13 American service members and 170 Afghan civilians.

That airstrike was denied.

McCaul’s office tells NewsNation this fits a pattern of missed opportunities for the U.S. to take action against ISIS during the chaotic transition period.

“For two years, President Biden refused to take responsibility for the disaster he caused or even acknowledged it as a failure. We need transparency on why this went so poorly. We know the administration leaders ignored the advice of commanders, the intel community reporting and warnings of diplomats on the ground, yet not a single person has been held accountable,” McCaul said in a statement.

Two years after the Taliban took control, it faces no significant opposition that could topple it. It has avoided internal divisions by falling in line behind its ideologically unbending leader. It has kept a struggling economy afloat, in part by holding investment talks with capital-rich regional countries, even as the international community withholds formal recognition. It has improved domestic security through crackdowns on armed groups such as the Islamic State and says it is fighting corruption and opium production.

But it’s a slew of bans on Afghan girls and women that dominated the Taliban’s second year in charge. It barred them from parks, gyms, universities, and jobs at nongovernmental groups and the United Nations – all in the space of a few months – allegedly because they weren’t wearing proper hijab, the Islamic head covering, or violated gender segregation rules. These orders followed a previous ban, issued in the first year of Taliban rule, on girls going to school beyond sixth grade.

“Today we look into that two years ago, August 15, is the day for so many Afghans and I think for so many friends of Afghanistan, for so many allies, that we have out there, it was a heartbreaking day. It was a day that we lost our hope, we lost our dream, we completely got disoriented for quite some time,” said Adela Raz, former Afghanistan ambassador to the U.S.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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