National security adviser Mike Waltz asserted Wednesday that Trump officials got the mastermind behind the deadly August 2021 Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan to confess before flying the “monster” back to the US overnight.
“He confessed. This was the planner of that bombing that killed our 13,” Waltz told “Fox & Friends,” referencing the US service members killed outside the Kabul airport during the botched evacuation of Americans and their Afghan allies ahead of the Taliban reconquest.
Waltz declined to identify the terrorist or say where he would be held.
News of the confession came a day after Trump announced that the US had secured the “top terrorist” during his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
Along with Waltz’s national security team, led by Sebastian Gorka, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel all played a role in the apprehension and extraction.
“They all went out and met the agents last night in the middle of the night as they flew this monster back,” Waltz said.
“He will be brought to justice. The president even said to these families at Arlington, ‘We’re going to get this guy,’” he added.
Waltz also described the “emotional” response from Gold Star Families after they learned the Trump administration had nabbed the ISIS-K terrorist.
“They were emotional. If you remember, one of the fathers, Steve Nikoui, in the last State of the Union, was so upset at Biden and his team that they had never said their families’ names. They didn’t even say Afghanistan. He kind of lost it and yelled out and was arrested,” Waltz said.
“To have these families, a month into the presidency, and having them thank the president for promises made, promises kept,” he added.
Waltz said it was “a step” toward trusting Pakistan, noting that after the US shared intelligence with the Islamabad government, “they moved on that intelligence and they extradited him.”
The chaotic withdrawal of US forces and diplomats prompted the Taliban to release thousands of ISIS terrorists from prisons as the Islamic fundamentalists swept across the country.
One of those terrorists, Abdul Rahman al-Logari, was later identified as the one who wore and detonated a suicide vest stuffed with 20 pounds of explosives and ball bearings, killing 168 Afghans in addition to the 13 service members, according to US military officials.
