On Wednesday, a Marine Corps sniper was moved to tears while recounting how his warnings about a potential suicide bomber were ignored by leaders, just moments before a deadly blast at Kabul airport killed 13 service members during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews recounted the ordeal in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, telling members about the moment he and a friend were hit with a “flash and massive wave of pressure” after a suicide bomb detonated at Kabul airport on Aug. 26, 2021.
“I’m thrown 12 feet onto the ground but instantly knew what happened. I opened my eyes to Marines dead or unconscious and lying around me. A crowd of hundreds immediately vanished in front of me and my body was catastrophically wounded with 100 to 150 ball bearings now in it,” Vargas-Andrews told the committee through tears.
Vargas-Andrews said that just moments prior to the explosion, he and his fellow Marines were providing security from a tower near the gate when the blast occurred. The Marines had been warned of a potential suicide bomber and minutes beforehand spotted an individual matching the suspected bomber’s description.
The Marines observed the man, who was seen participating in suspicious behavior, and sent warnings to leaders, asking for permission to engage him.
“Over the communication network we passed that there was a potential threat and that there an IED attack imminent, this was as serious as it could get. I request engagement authority while my team leader was ready on the M110 semi-automatic sniper system. The response, leadership did not have engagement authority for us, do not engage,” Vargas-Andrews recounted.
The Marines asked the battalion commander to come to the tower, as psychological operations confirmed the individual matched the description, presenting the commander evidence and assuring him of the “ease of fire” on the suspect.
They asked for authority to fire but were denied permission. “Plain and simple, we were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded; no one was held accountable for our safety,” Vargas-Andrews said.
The team left their position, sent to find allies on the ground among the crowd, when they were struck with a suicide blast, which killed 13 service members.
Vargas-Andrews appeared in front of the committee in a personal capacity, rather than as a representative of the U.S. Marine Corps or the Department of Defense, and is one of several individuals testifying about the chaos that unfolded as military personnel evacuated the middle eastern nation.
These hearings are the first on the subject since Republicans took control of Congress in January. Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) said on Tuesday that the proceedings will aim to provide the “transparency and accountability the American people deserve.”
“I think these 13 Gold Star families deserve to know who was responsible for the loss of life. I think that the Americans who are left behind to perish without our own U.S. government’s obligated duties to provide safety and security to them need to have transparency,” Mills said.
“We need to know where the decisions were being made, whether it was ignoring military strategy by the president,” he continued. “Whether it was failed strategies by both the DOD and the Department of State, whether it was not being properly carried out by the ground commanders … we get the necessary information to be able to take further steps and lessons learned.”
Vargas-Andrews said he personally observed some of those failures, including slow processing speed by State Department personnel.
“The troops on the ground had to tirelessly work to control the crowds, day and night. The Department of State staff at HKIA (Hamid Karzai International Airport) would completely shut down processing Afghans every evening and into the morning, leaving ground forces with a nightmare,” he said. “State was not prepared to be in HKIA.”
However, Vargas-Andrews said that in spite of the tragic explosion, he was not asked to provide a report following the blast, stressing a need for accountability in the aftermath.
“Nobody wanted my report post-blast. Even NCIS and the FBI failed to interview me,” Vargas-Andrews said.
“Our military members and our veterans deserve our best because that is what we give to America,” he continued. “The withdrawal was a catastrophe in my opinion and there was an inexcusable lack of accountability and negligence. The 11 Marines, one sailor, and one solider who were murdered that day have not been answered for.”
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