CIA reportedly warned military about civilian presence just seconds before missile hit in Kabul

Site of U.S. missile strike in Kabul.
(Image credit: HOSHANG HASHIMI/AFP via Getty Images)

The CIA urgently warned the U.S. military that Afghan civilians, including children, were likely in the immediate vicinity of the intended target of a deadly missile strike late last month in Kabul, CNN reports, citing three sources familiar with the situation. The message didn't arrive in time.

The military believed a vehicle contained explosives and posed an imminent threat to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport during the chaotic evacuation process after the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital. But Central Command admitted Friday that its information was incorrect — there were no explosives in the car, and the driver did not have connections to the Islamic State's Afghanistan affiliate, known as ISIS-K. It's unclear if the CIA was aware of the faulty intelligence, or if the agency had only picked up on the civilian presence.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.