On Tuesday, U.S. officials confirmed that earlier this month the Taliban killed the Islamic State leader who ordered the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. military members, 170 Afghan civilians and injured many more.
The Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K group, claimed credit for the bombing at the airport and identified the suicide bomber as Abdul Rahman Al-Logari, per The New York Times. ISIS-K and the Taliban have been fighting for power ever since the United States withdrew from the country in 2021.
Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover from Utah was one of the U.S. military members killed in Afghanistan during the bombing on Aug. 26, 2021, when the United States began evacuating U.S. citizens and asylum-seekers from the country.
The Marine’s father, Darin Hoover, and the other family members of those killed received a phone call from U.S. officials over the weekend who said the ISIS-K leader responsible for ordering the attack was dead, reported The New York Times.
“They couldn’t give me his name; they couldn’t tell me the details of the operation,” Hoover told the Times, which he said left him feeling “frustrated, again.” He said that he wants the government to take responsibility and say, “we screwed up.”
“Whatever happens, it’s not going to bring Taylor back and I understand that,” Hoover told The Associated Press. “About the only thing his mom and I can do now is be an advocate for him. All we want is the truth. And we’re not getting it. That’s the frustrating part.”
The administration said it fulfilled its “moral responsibility” to advise the families of the victims that the “person most responsible for the airport attack” was dead, per AP.
While U.S. officials have declined to give many specific details about the death of the ISIS-K leader, they confirmed in a statement late Tuesday by Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder that the Taliban killed the ISIS leader and that the “United States was not involved,” reported AP.