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I'm writing my next book on the Special Forces and the war for @wwnorton. If you want to talk to me, get in touch at matt.aikins at gmail or hit me up on Signal at mattaikins.24
Matthieu Aikins
984 posts
Matthieu Aikins
@mattaikins
Signal: mattaikins.24. Contributing writer @NYTMag, @TypeMediaCenter fellow. Book: THE NAKED DON'T FEAR THE WATER bit.ly/MatthieuAikins…
Joined September 2009
- This is a photograph of a US-made cluster bomb, dropped by the Saudis, that I took in northern Yemen in 2015.
US Ambassador to the UN Thomas-Greenfield condemned Russian use of cluster munitions, saying this indiscriminate weapon "has no place on the battlefield." The US Mission then deleted her comment from the transcript because the Pentagon won't endorse a ban. responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/03/04/the… - The military said it targeted ISIS. This morning, I visited a family hit by a US drone strike in Kabul, who lost ten people, including seven children. Longer story coming. Photos by @jimhuylebroek nytimes.com/live/2021/08/3…
- Here are the faces of those killed in the last known drone strike of America's twenty-year war, the latest among thousands of civilian casualties from air strikes, mostly faceless to us. Ungrievable lives, as Judith Butler put it. But we can look into this family's eyes:
- The US military admits to mistakenly killing ten innocent people in the strike we investigated for the @nytimes. Zemari's family told me that, above all, they wanted his name cleared. It was today. But he was the breadwinner for the family. They deserve compensation.
- Terrible scenes on the streets of Kabul today. Refugees from the provinces unloading bedding from taxis, families weeping outside embassy gates, downtown packed with those running last-minute errands.
- Around Kabul, I’m witnessing government forces put on plainclothes and walk away from their posts, heading home to find loved ones. Streets are peaceful, mostly empty.
- Thousands of people gathered outside Kabul’s airport, after hearing false rumors that planes were taking people to Canada without visas. Guards firing in the air to disperse crowds, but thousands more arriving, in cars and on foot.
- The scene outside the Kabul airport gate this morning, where people were arriving by the thousands and things were rapidly spiraling out of control, as false rumors spread of flights out for anybody without visas. Several killed inside and outside already.
00:00 - I wrote 20,000 words about the collapse in Afghanistan, and what I witnessed during the fall of Kabul. On the cover of next week’s @NYTmag, photos by @jimhuylebroek. Here’s a free link:
- Reports that the last US flight has departed from Kabul. Skies are quiet and I can hear and see what appears to be celebratory gunfire from the Taliban.
- Regarding the current situation in Kabul: apart from the airport, which is a brutal mess, from what I've seen riding around the last three days, the city has been calm under the Taliban. A good surprise, for now. But the airport evacuation dominates international coverage.
- Replying to @mattaikinsThis is Somaya, daughter of Zemari. Her family says that she and her father were among the ten killed in the drone strike.
- A father and daughter crouch outside the east gate of Kabul Airport, as US Marines stand watch yesterday. Thousands of Afghans have camped around the airport, desperate for a flight out.
