Top military leaders testify on Afghanistan for first time since withdrawal

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani, Veronica Rocha and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 4:03 p.m. ET, September 28, 2021
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10:27 a.m. ET, September 28, 2021

Biden's secretary of defense is expected to be grilled on Kabul airstrike that targeted wrong vehicle

From CNN's Anna Coren, Julia Hollingsworth, Sandi Sidhu and Zachary Cohen

Relatives and neighbors inspect the remains of the US drone strike in a residential compound in Kabul on August 30.
Relatives and neighbors inspect the remains of the US drone strike in a residential compound in Kabul on August 30. (Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times/Redux)

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley will testify soon on Capitol Hill. They are expected to be grilled on a Kabul drone strike that took place in August.

A United States military investigation into a deadly Kabul airstrike on a vehicle in August found it killed 10 civilians and the driver and that the vehicle targeted was likely not a threat associated with ISIS-K, McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, announced at the Pentagon earlier this month.

McKenzie told reporters that the strike — which he said killed seven children — was a "mistake" and offered an apology.

"This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology," he said.

McKenzie added he is "fully responsible for this strike and this tragic outcome."

The Pentagon's announcement was expected to fuel more criticism of the Biden administration's chaotic evacuation of Kabul and handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan more broadly.

While McKenzie stressed future strikes will likely be held to a higher standard, confirmation of the civilian death toll also provides insight into the obstacles ahead for military and intelligence officials tasked with fulfilling President Biden's promise to make the terror group "pay" for its deadly suicide attack in Kabul.

The Pentagon maintained that at least one ISIS-K facilitator and three civilians were killed in what Milley had previously called a "righteous strike" on the compound on Aug. 29.

The investigation found that all of those killed in the residential compound were civilians.

Read more about the US airstrike here.