CARNAGE

Kabul Airport Bomber Had Been Caught by CIA But Freed by Taliban Days Before Attack

The Taliban freed the Kabul airport suicide bomber from prison just days before he killed nearly 200 people—and 13 American troops.

The suicide bomber who killed almost 200 people and 13 American troops at Kabul’s airport in August had previously been caught by the CIA—but he was released from jail by the Taliban during the chaotic final days of the fall of Afghanistan. That fatal act could violate the shaky deal struck by the Trump administration with the Taliban, in which the Islamic fundamentalist group promised that it would not allow al-Qaeda and Islamic State terrorists to attack Americans. And it could also open the door to more U.S. military attacks in Afghanistan months after the Biden administration’s disastrous exit and formal end to the United States’ longest war. The revelation of the bomber’s identity was months in the making, The New York Times reports. The ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, Islamic State Khorasan, quickly took credit for the attack a week after the Aug. 26 bombing. In its weekly newsletter on Sept. 2, ISIS-K identified the assailant as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, according to researcher Kyle Orton. But since then, it’s become clear that al-Logari was the same person who had plotted an attack in India that was foiled by the CIA, according to the Times. After a tip-off by Americans, al-Logari was caught by Indian security forces then turned over to the CIA and shipped to Afghanistan, where he waited in prison until he was released just 11 days before he carried out his mass murder.