America and allies determined to deliver justice in the killing of nearly 200 civilians and 13 U.S. military personnel have "significantly" disrupted the militant network behind the 2021 suicide bombing outside Afghanistan's main airport, said a Pentagon official.
The Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate is "pretty degraded," but not yet eliminated, Christopher Maier, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity combat, told Bloomberg Friday after a breakfast meeting with reporters.
"We have made significant dents in this network that conducted the Abbey Gate attack," Maier said.
Maier also said U.S. forces were "in the process" of making good on President Joe Biden's vow to bring justice in the bombing outside Hamid Karzai International Airport during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," Biden said at the time.
Maier said that a "lot of allied and partner disruptions" of the group known as Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, have reduced its "capability to conduct such an attack" ever again, Bloomberg reported.
During the meeting with reporters, Maier said the Pentagon continues to believe the bombing was the work of "more than one individual" aided by the Islamic State Khorasan.
Maier also said there have been "clear cases where we've been able to disrupt the network that was associated with Abbey Gate" and cited the help of "Central Asian countries more attuned from the threat from Afghanistan."
Some of the "recent plots that have been foiled point to direct support from some of these partners," he added, without naming the countries involved.
The Abbey Gate attack led Biden's favorability rating to dip underwater and never recover, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.
During last month's Republican National Convention, former President Donald Trump — whose administration negotiated a February 2020 withdrawal agreement with the Taliban — called Biden's handling of it "disastrous" and "the worst humiliation in the history of our country."
Relatives of some of the slain U.S. service members also appeared at the convention and blasted Biden, leading the crowd to chant, "Never forget!" and "U.S.A.!"
