Marine in Kabul airport blast says he was told not to shoot ISIS bomber

WASHINGTON A Marine who survived the deadly bombing at Kabuls airport during the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan told lawmakers Wednesday he was told not to kill a suspected ISIS terrorist who he believes was responsible for later killing 13 of his fellow service members and countless Afghans.

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WASHINGTON — A Marine who survived the deadly bombing at Kabul’s airport during the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan told lawmakers Wednesday he was told not to kill a suspected ISIS terrorist who he believes was responsible for later killing 13 of his fellow service members and countless Afghans.

Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews recounted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee how his team deployed to Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, and were tracking a man who intelligence officers believed was a suicide bomber “throughout the entirety” of the day leading up to the explosion.

“Intel guys confirmed the suicide bomber … described as clean-shaven, brown-dressed, black vest and traveling with an older companion,” he said. “I asked intel guys why he wasn’t apprehended sooner since we had a full description. I was told the asset could not be compromised.”

Vargas-Andrews recounted his experience during his opening remarks at the committee’s hearing examining the Biden administration’s handling of the final weeks of the 20-year US war in Afghanistan. The chaotic effort brought massive crowds to the airport with fewer than 6,000 US troops deployed to assist.

Vargas-Andrews told the committee that his team continually updated intelligence teams that day on the suspect’s actions, noting the men were an “anomaly in the crowd” and “both had obvious mannerisms that go along with who we believed him to be.”

On Wednesday, Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews testified to the House Foreign Affairs Committee that his team tracked a suspected ISIS terrorist in Kabul but couldn’t get permission from the leadership to kill the man. AP
Vargas-Andrews lost an arm and a leg in the explosion. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
The Marine testified that his team was tracking the suspected suicide bomber “throughout the entirety” of the day. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

“They handed out small cards to the crowd periodically, and the older man sat calmly and seemingly coached the bomber,” Vargas-Andrews said. “Over the communication network, we passed that there was a potential threat and an idea attack imminent.”

“This was as serious as it could get,” he added.

Vargas-Andrews said he requested permission to kill the suspected terrorist and his team leader got a sniper gun ready. But the Marines were told not to shoot because “leadership did not have the engagement authority for us.”

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Scores were injured and killed in the bombing. via REUTERS
Vargas-Andrews said he requested permission to kill the suspected terrorist and his team leader got a sniper gun ready. Getty Images

Unwilling to give up, the Marine then asked his battalion commander, Lt. Col. Brad Whited, “to come to the tower to see what we did.” While Vargas-Andrews waited for the commander to appear, “psychological operations individuals came to our tower immediately and confirmed the suspect met the suicide bomber description.”

When Whited finally arrived, Vargas-Andrews said, his team showed him evidence and photos of the men.

“Pointedly … we asked him if we could shoot,” he said. “Our battalion commander said, and I quote: ‘I don’t know.'”

Vargas-Andrews was working in the crowd outside the airport’s Abbey Gate when an ISIS terrorist detonated the suicide vest. Getty Images
The Marine believes that the man was the suicide bomber responsible for killing 13 Americans and more than 160 Afghans later that day. AP
Vargas-Andrews at the airport eight days before the suicide bombing. Sgt. Tyler Andrews
Vargas-Andrews at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, after the attack in Kabul. Sgt. Tyler Andrews

Baffled, Vargas-Andres said, he and his team “asked very harshly, ‘Well, who does? Because this is your responsibility, Sir.'”

“He again replied he did not know who and would find out. We received no update and never got our answer,” he said. “Eventually the individual disappeared. To this day we believe he was a suicide bomber.”

Hours later, Vargas-Andrews was working in the crowd outside the airport’s Abbey Gate when an ISIS terrorist detonated a suicide vest, killing 13 Americans and more than 160 Afghans.

Vargas-Andrews criticized the withdrawal of the US forces and said the deaths of his fellow service members have been left unanswered. via REUTERS
The bombing killed 13 US service members. VIA REUTERS
Vargas-Andrews blasted the withdrawal as a “catastrophe.” AP

Vargas-Andrews, who lost an arm and a leg in the blast, was one of the roughly 45 troops who were injured but survived.

“We were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded,” he said of the lead-up to the blast. “No one was held accountable for our safety.”

Nearly 130,000 people were airlifted from Afghanistan during the mission, but the Biden administration has been regularly criticized for ending the mission before hundreds of Americans and thousands of former elite Afghan military personnel, interpreters and women leaders promised sanctuary could be evacuated.

Ending his opening statement, Vargas-Andrews requested that the House committee ask him more about the day of the bombing, noting that “no one wanted my report post-blasts — even NCIS and the FBI failed to interview me.”

“The withdrawal was a catastrophe, in my opinion, and there was an inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence,” he said. “The 11 Marines, one sailor and one soldier that were murdered that day have not been answered for.”

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