Top Senate Defense Panel Republican Says Biden Ultimately Liable for Kabul Drone Strike

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The top Republican on the US Senate Armed Services Committee, Jim Inhofe, said in a statement that President Joe Biden bears full responsibility for the US drone strike in Kabul that killed ten civilians.

Earlier on Friday, Central Command head Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said an internal investigation into the drone strike in Kabul on August 29 revealed that ten civilians, including seven children, were killed after the military mistakenly assessed they were striking a terrorist from the Islamic State-Khorasan (banned in Russia).

"Deeply saddened to learn that innocent civilians were killed in the Aug. 29 airstrike in Kabul," Inhofe said on Friday. "[The Senate Armed Services Committee] will hear from the administration soon on the chaotic and deadly Afghanistan withdrawal, and I will demand a full accounting of how this strike went so horribly wrong. POTUS [Biden] bears ultimate responsibility."

Several other lawmakers from both chambers of Congress also called on the Biden administration to conduct a full investigation in the matter and to ensure accountability.

Republican Senator Rob Portman said via Twitter that the failed August 29 drone strike raises doubts about the United States' over-the-horizon capability to ensure the Taliban do not provide a safe haven for terrorists in Afghanistan.

Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego, chairman of the US House Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee, said in a separate statement that he expects the Defense Department to provide lawmakers with a briefing on the drone strike, including on the sources of intelligence and procedures used to select the target.

Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly, who is a member of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the findings of the investigation warrant a full review of the intelligence used to justify the drone strike to ensure this mistake does not happen again.