Attack at Camp Bastion: Panetta was at risk

New Details Show Panetta Was at Risk in Attack
Elisabeth Bumiller
March 16, 2012
The New York Times

WASHINGTON - An Afghan interpreter in a speeding truck tried to run down a top American commander and his British deputy, forcing the two and others to scatter as Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta’s plane taxied toward them at a military base in Afghanistan, defense officials said on Friday.

The latest account of what apparently was a suicide attack shows there was a greater security risk to Mr. Panetta than defense officials originally admitted. American military officials had at first played down the episode, which occurred on Wednesday at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, and they did not immediately disclose important details.

It was not until Friday that defense officials said that Mr. Panetta had already landed when the attack occurred, although they did not say how close his plane came to the speeding truck. But one of the officials acknowledged that if the attack had occurred five minutes later, it was “possible” that Mr. Panetta would have been on the tarmac and in the path of the speeding truck along with the commanders, who had been waiting for him as part of a welcoming party.

The officials, who spoke to reporters on Mr. Panetta’s plane en route from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to Washington, asked for anonymity to discuss security matters.

Defense officials said the Afghan interpreter, who apparently set himself on fire, had aimed his truck directly at a group that included Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus of the Marines, the top commander in Helmand, and his British deputy, Brig. Stuart Skeates. A day earlier, military officials described the welcoming party as “a group of Marines,” suggesting they were of lower rank — and omitting that the attacker was heading for one of the most senior American military commanders in Afghanistan.

The attack was the latest in a recent string by Afghans on their American or coalition partners in Afghanistan. Mr. Panetta’s trip occurred only three days after an American soldier was believed to have killed 16 civilians in a village in Kandahar Province in the south, enraging Afghans and driving relations with the American military to a low.

General Gurganus spoke to reporters a little more than an hour after the attack and made no mention of it.

A senior defense official told reporters on Friday that the American military still did not know if the attacker, who died of severe burns early Thursday, had been aware that he was heading toward General Gurganus and Brigadier Skeates. The officials said the Afghan, a civilian, worked under contract as an interpreter at Camp Bastion, a British military airfield that adjoins Camp Leatherneck, a vast American Marine base.

The interpreter’s employment suggests that he could have known that the two high-ranking officers were present, or at the very least would have seen that the commotion on the tarmac, which included a sizable waiting motorcade, indicated that someone of importance was arriving.

Defense officials continued to say on Friday that they did not think that the interpreter had been targeting Mr. Panetta, who for security reasons arrived in an unmarked C-17 military transport plane, not his usual Boeing 747 with “United States of America” on the side.

The defense officials said that at least some of Mr. Panetta’s aides on the plane became aware of the episode shortly after landing. The C-17 was quickly diverted to another parking spot at the airport, where General Gurganus and Brigadier Skeates then moved to greet Mr. Panetta. By that time, defense officials say, the interpreter had crashed the truck into a ditch and emerged from it in flames. Military personnel found a container of gasoline and a lighter in the truck.

Three other Afghan interpreters at Camp Bastion, including the driver’s brother and father, were detained for questioning. Defense officials could not say on Friday whether they were still being held.

Defense officials said the interpreter had stolen the truck from Camp Leatherneck about 30 minutes before the episode. A British soldier was wounded in the theft.