‘Didn’t need to die’: US seeks answers after Kabul massacre

Among the most pressing questions is how did the suicide bombers make it through Taliban checkpoints?

By Wednesday night, US intelligence agencies were near certain that an attack was imminent outside Kabul airport, triggering a warning to American citizens to leave the area immediately. Just 12 hours later, suicide bombers walked through the large crowds to a gate manned by US troops and detonated explosives, killing at least 162 Afghans and 13 US service members. It was a tragic coda to America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, the largest loss of life for the US military there in a decade, on the cusp of the full withdrawal of troops by August 31 ordered by President Joe Biden.