WASHINGTON —U.S. military investigators found no conclusive evidence that an Afghan officer who killed eight U.S. airmen and one U.S. civilian during a meeting in Kabul in April had ties to the Taliban, according to a report released Tuesday.
But the gunman, who shot each of the Americans multiple times after arriving for a routine meeting at an Afghan air force headquarters compound, previously had vowed to “kill Americans,” the report said.
The incident — among the deadliest of its kind during the 10-year-old war — showed the dangers faced not only by U.S. troops on Afghan battlefields but also by military and civilian trainers and advisers who work daily with Afghan forces to prepare for the eventual departure of international troops.
The 436-page report by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations determined that Col. Ahmed Gul acted alone, but it found no conclusive motive for the deadly shooting spree at Kabul International Airport.
The report was dated Sept. 4 but not released until Tuesday.
Investigators cited evidence that Gul had financial and other personal problems, and that he may have had Taliban sympathies. But they could not establish with certainty why, at 10:10 a.m. on April 27, Gul entered the air command and control center, pulled a black Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol from a holster and began an attack that ended only after Gul apparently turned the gun on himself.
Before dying, he wrote in blood — apparently his own — on a wall in a hallway of the control center, “God is one” and “God in your name,” in Dari, a Persian dialect spoken in Afghanistan, the report said.
One unidentified Afghan told investigators that after living in Pakistan for about 18 months, Gul returned to his native country in 2008, and that he told others he came back because he “wanted to kill Americans.”
Air Force investigators, with help from other U.S. government agencies, consulted intelligence documents and other materials to try to determine Gul’s possible motive.
“This analysis is not stating that there are no insurgent connections to subject (Gul), but that none have been established thus far during this investigation,” the report said. “Additionally, there are multiple reports that indicated subject (Gul) may have had mental issues” possibly compounded by money problems.
Killed were one female master sergeant and seven other airmen — male officers ranging in rank from captain to lieutenant colonel. The civilian victim was a contractor.
