Afghan family seeks future far from home after US drone strike

Kabul, Afghanistan (AFP):

The survivors of an American drone strike that killed 10 members of an Afghan family are looking to be evacuated to the US for a future far from home.

On August 29, 2021, a drone strike killed Aimal Ahmadi’s three-year-old daughter Malika, his brother Ezmarai, and several of his nephews and nieces in a development the Pentagon later acknowledged was a “mistake.”

The Pentagon did not punish the service members involved in the incident.

The drone hit came three days after an IS suicide bomb attack at Kabul airport killed more than 150 people — including 13 US troops — significantly raising tensions in the last days of US withdrawal.

An estimated 188 civilians have been killed by US forces by mistake in Afghanistan since 2018, according to the American military.

“I don’t wish that any human being would go through what we went through, it’s terrible, unimaginable”, 32-year-old Ahmadi, who left Afghanistan with some of his family members for a refugee camp in Qatar, told AFP. The US administration is currently helping relocate members of the family, Ahmadi added.

Washington’s announcement that it would pay the family compensation sparked interest in the family and among relatives, given the economic distress felt across the country.

But to this day, the family has not received any money from the US and they have hired a lawyer to defend their interests, Ahmadi said. His ailing sister, who remains in Afghanistan and is also hoping to be evacuated, has left home for a safe place in Kabul.

“I hope that a better future awaits me,” said Ahmadi.