Hegseth Vows Punishment for Abbey Gate Attack Perpetrators

DID Press: US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has vowed that those responsible for the deadly Abbey Gate attack at Kabul’s international airport will face punishment, declaring that the perpetrators would no longer be met with what he described as “political treatment.”

Speaking on the fifth anniversary of the 2021 suicide bombing, Hegseth said the time had come to hold those responsible accountable.

The attack killed 13 U.S. service members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians, making it one of the deadliest incidents during the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In the aftermath of the bombing, the United States carried out a drone strike in Kabul targeting a vehicle it believed was linked to the attack. The strike killed 11 civilians, including seven children, according to subsequent investigations.

The Abbey Gate bombing was claimed by the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, known as IS-K, and remains one of the most significant and controversial events associated with the final phase of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.