Taliban kill mastermind of Kabul airport bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members

The mastermind of the deadly August 2021 attack at Kabul International Airport, which claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghans seeking to flee the country, has been killed, according to three U.S. officials. 

The ISIS-K operative, whose name the officials would not provide, was killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan earlier this month, the officials said.

The U.S. was not involved in the operation, the officials said, and are not relying on the Taliban for confirmation that he was killed.

The U.S. has intelligence and human sources confirming his death, the officials said, but they are not providing the Taliban with operational information or intelligence. Other partners in the region do share information with the Taliban. 

The families of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the attack were notified of his death this week, most in a brief phone call from the military. The dead included 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman, and one Army soldier. 

Staff Sergeant Darin “Taylor” Hoover was badly injured in the attack.

Despite his wounds, he continued helping his fellow Marines, handing them ammunition and encouraging them to fight on. He was 31 when he died. 

His father, Darin Hoover, who was briefed about the ISIS-K operative’s death Tuesday, said he’s frustrated by how little information the Pentagon and State Department have shared about the attack that day. 

“We only get piecemeal stuff from them and it just doesn’t work for me,” he said. “How can you have the next generation coming up to defend this country if this is how they’re treated?”

Hoover said the Marine did not provide the name of the operative killed or any details about the operation beyond the fact that he was the individual responsible for the attack. 

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, said this does not end the need for justice for the families of those killed. 

“If these reports are true, any time a terrorist is taken off the board is a good day. But this doesn’t diminish the Biden administration’s culpability for the failures that led to the attack at Abbey Gate, and will in no way deter the committee’s investigation,” McCaul wrote in a statement. “I will not sleep until every stone is unturned and these Gold Star families have answers — and justice.”