Afghanistan drone strike the Pentagon previously described as "righteous" killed as many as 10 civilians, officials say
CBSN
A U.S. drone strike launched in Afghanistan late last month killed as many as 10 civilians, and not an ISIS-K terrorist as the U.S. military previously reported, the Pentagon acknowleged Friday. General Frank McKenzie, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, called the strike "a tragic mistake" during a news conference Friday afternoon.
An investigation by Central Command determined that the August 29 strike in Kabul, which Joint Chief Chairman General Mark Milley previously described as a "righteous strike," killed an innocent aid worker and as many as nine of his family members, including up to seven children.
"We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to U.S. forces," McKenzie said. "I offer my profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed."
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.