United States of America eSeries: 'You think you'd kind of know'

September 16, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'You think you'd kind of know'

A central premise of President Joe Biden's Afghan withdrawal was that "over the horizon" strikes with drones and aircraft are now so effective that the United States doesn't need boots on the ground to flush out terror havens.

The notion however seems to be badly undermined by emerging details about a US Hellfire missile attack in Kabul before the US troop pullout on what the Pentagon said was an ISIS-K suicide bomber. An investigation by CNN found that the strike killed 43-year-old Zamarai Ahmadi, an aid worker for a US non-profit. Seven children were also killed in the attack, according to Ahmadi's family -- a death toll that the US disputes.

Reports by The Washington Post and The New York Times also cast doubt on the US military's description of a "righteous" strike to take out a vehicle bomb thought to be heading to create more carnage at the Kabul airport. The US says at least one ISIS-K facilitator was killed in the strike and that secondary blasts prove explosives were in the vehicle. But CNN interviews with more than two dozen of Ahmadi's relatives, colleagues and neighbors raise questions about whether this was a case of mistaken identity, and two experts cast doubt on whether there were really explosives in the car.

The conflicting accounts are stirring a debate in Washington over whether the US intelligence underlying the strike was accurate. That in turn is highlighting how US espionage agencies are significantly hampered by no longer having an on-the-ground presence in Afghanistan. This is not a new problem; human rights activists have long highlighted civilian casualties from the distant drone war against terrorist targets in Pakistan's tribal regions.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, confronted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the Kabul strike in a Senate hearing this week. "I see these pictures of these beautiful children that were killed in the attack. If that's true, and not propaganda. If that's true ... maybe you created hundreds of thousands of new potential terrorists from bombing the wrong people," Paul said, and asked exactly who was killed in the attack.

"I don't know because we are reviewing it," Blinken said.

Paul replied: "Well you think you'd kind of know before you off somebody with a predator drone, whether he's an aid worker, or he's an ISIS-K."

Zamarai Ahmadi, third from left, was applying for a visa to the US for himself, his wife Anisa, and their children Zamir, Zamira, Faisal and Farzad, before his death. Read the story here.

Subscribe to Meanwhile in America

The world and America

North and South Korea launched rival ballistic missile tests.

Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar disputed rumors he'd been harmed in an internal power struggle.

And over 1,400 dolphins were killed in the Faroe Islands.

Meanwhile in America, President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines to counter China.

Top American gymnasts slammed the FBI's investigation into sexual abuse by Larry Nassar.

And SpaceX launched four tourists into space.

'I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse'

(Pool)

"To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse," star gymnast and seven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles told US lawmakers during a Senate hearing on the FBI's handling of a sexual assault investigation into Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor.

Allegations against Nassar were first brought to the agency in July 2015, yet he continued to practice for months. Another gymnast at the hearing, Kaylee Lorincz, directly faulted the FBI for the abuse she endured in that period. "My last appointment with Larry Nassar was Feb. 2, 2016 and that appointment should've never happened," Lorincz told reporters.

A Department of Justice inspector general report has found that FBI officials investigating the allegations violated the agency's policies by making false statements and failing to properly document complaints. FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared after the gymnasts and apologized on behalf of the bureau. "I'm sorry that so many people let you down again and again," he said.

Postcard from Carp, Ontario

The sky was blue, the families were smiling, the toddlers were taking tender steps through the grass. Canada's Conservative Party leader was ready to make a child care announcement and as he approached the microphone, the campaign backdrop was pitch perfect; a giddy child on a bouncy castle, writes CNN's Paula Newton for Meanwhile.

And then Erin O'Toole intruded on his own moment, unloading on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a way Canadian voters have rarely, if ever, heard: "Every Canadian has met a Justin Trudeau in their lives—privileged, entitled and always looking out for number one. He was looking out for number one when he called this expensive and unnecessary election in the middle of a pandemic. That's not leadership, that's self-interest," O'Toole said, as the child behind him bounced blithely away.

The vote, set for September 20, includes six federal parties. While Trudeau and O'Toole are likely the only leaders capable of forming a government given their national support, Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) polls well as a leader and could again hold the balance of power in any Canadian parliament. The pandemic, climate change, housing affordability and gun control have all featured as major issues with voters.

But Trudeau's vulnerability is, in fact, the election itself, which he voluntarily triggered just as a bruising fourth wave of the pandemic took hold in Canada. Trudeau called the snap election in mid-August, barely two years into his minority government, betting he could capitalize on his handling of the pandemic to win a majority in parliament. But once-favorable polls have quickly reversed course, with O'Toole and Trudeau now in a statistical tie according to national tracking polls over the past few days.

Meanwhile, a ripple of polarization among voters, one that seems to mirror the US experience, is emerging especially on cultural or so-called wedge issues, like abortion rights, gun control and climate change. The pandemic has also ignited fury among a small but fierce minority that oppose some Covid-19 protocols, especially vaccine and mask mandates. Earlier this month a protester threw gravel at Trudeau at a campaign event in Ontario, after the Canadian leader had been stalked by protestors angry with his pandemic policies.

And the heated and visceral character of the campaigns has some activists and educators worried that Canada's increasingly bitter politics are following in the path of the United States, where political parties and their supporters seem increasingly siloed. "We like to the look at the US and say 'not us,' and I think we are now at a time where we have to say, 'Yes, and us too,'" says Notisha Massaquoi, an assistant professor in health & society at the University of Toronto and a Black community activist.

"We've seen it, we know it can happen, we know that that a population can be ignited and can become powerful and can become leaders," Massaquoi said explaining she fears a future Canadian government could use wedge issues, like race, to mobilize its voter base in harmful ways.

Trudeau has hardly offered reconciliation in responding to his main rival, accusing O'Toole of siding with "anti-vaxxer mobs" and of wanting to take the country "backwards" by endangering public policies many Canadians hold as sacred, like gun control and universal healthcare. At nearly every campaign stop O'Toole has underscored that he is pro-vaccine but does not believe vaccine mandates are effective or necessary. He has also denied that he would do anything to introduce private-sector healthcare in Canada.

The truth is that it's unclear whether either can stimulate deep voter engagement in a nation disillusioned by the current political mood and already exhausted by Covid-19. Philippe J. Fournier, founder of the 338Canada Project, a statistical model of electoral projections that tracks polls, historical and demographic data, says an unusually large number of electoral districts are still undecided.

"Right now, in my model I count 61 out of 338 ridings that are toss ups," Fournier says. "That is a huge amount." For a statistician, he adds, it's a nightmare to have that many seats too close to call just days before an election. "We could have many surprises."

South Korea successfully tested a new submarine-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday. Its weapons development has been picking up speed as the country tries to become less dependent on the United States. In May, the two countries agreed to end a 40-year-old bilateral agreement that limited the range and payload of South Korean missiles -- a move that has not pleased neighboring North Korea. (Footage courtesy of South Korea's Defense Ministry/Presidential Office)

Thanks for reading.

On Thursday, the world's heads of state and government are in motion, with Colombian President Ivan Duque in Spain; German Chancellor Angela Merkel meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris; and German President Frank Walter Steinmeier hosting his Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts in Berlin.