Pentagon Finds Hidden Abbey Gate Files
PHOTO CAPTION: A U.S. Marine cares for an infant during evacuation operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 26, 2021, the day of the Abbey Gate bombing. Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla
A Pentagon review of the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing has uncovered previously undisclosed classified documents that investigators say were found stored in safes where they had not been located during earlier reviews.
Sean Parnell, chairman of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel, announced the discovery Wednesday on the fifth anniversary of the suicide bombing outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The Aug. 26, 2021, attack killed 13 U.S. service members — 11 Marines, one Army soldier and one Navy sailor — along with approximately 170 Afghan civilians.
Parnell said his team recently recovered what he described as “highly relevant classified documents” that should have been disclosed previously.
He further alleged that the material had been “stashed and hidden away in safes” where investigators would not find it.
Parnell did not identify who allegedly placed the documents there, when they were stored or which organization had custody of them.
He also declined to reveal their contents while the review remains underway.
The Pentagon has therefore not publicly established whether anyone intentionally withheld the documents from earlier investigations or whether the newly recovered material changes previous conclusions about the Abbey Gate attack.
Parnell said that after members of the special review panel examined the documents, they believed the material warranted further investigation.
The discovery adds another layer to years of scrutiny surrounding what happened at Abbey Gate during the chaotic final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The original military investigation concluded that a lone ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated an explosive device packed with ball bearings in the crowded area outside Abbey Gate.
A U.S. Central Command supplemental review released in April 2024 revisited the attack after additional public testimony raised questions about whether troops had identified the bomber before the explosion and whether they had an opportunity to stop him.
That review included more than 50 interviews with service members and generated more than 1,200 additional pages of documents, information and imagery.
CENTCOM ultimately reaffirmed the original investigation.
The supplemental review concluded that the attack was not preventable at the tactical level without jeopardizing the evacuation mission, that troops had not positively identified the bomber beforehand and that service members did not have an opportunity to engage him before the explosion.
The current Pentagon panel is conducting a broader review of the Afghanistan withdrawal and the circumstances surrounding Abbey Gate.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Parnell's role leading the review in 2025, saying the department owed answers to the American people, the military and the families of those killed.
Parnell said Wednesday that the latest discovery would not cause investigators to rush their conclusions.
The panel has not announced when its final report will be completed.
Wednesday's disclosure comes as the Pentagon also prepares to formally recognize Marines who served at Abbey Gate.
Seven Marines are receiving upgraded valor awards after an earlier review determined that several awards for members of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, had been inappropriately downgraded.
A Pentagon award ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon on the fifth anniversary of the bombing.
The newly discovered classified records could now become one of the most closely watched parts of the continuing review.
For now, however, the Pentagon has revealed little about what is inside them — leaving unanswered who knew about the documents, why they were not produced earlier and whether they will alter the military's understanding of what happened at Abbey Gate.
Sources: U.S. Department of War; U.S. Central Command; DVIDS
(Source: OAF Nation)
