Jake Tapper Calls Out Pentagon’s ‘Total About-Face’ on Kabul Strike: Would They ‘Be Admitting This’ If it Hadn’t Been Reported?

CNN’s Jake Tapper opened his show Friday with the horrific news of the military’s “massive and deadly mistake” in Afghanistan.

U.S. CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie admitted that the August 29 airstrike the military initially claimed took out ISIS-K targets actually took out 10 civilians, including 7 children.

Tapper reminded viewers, “This is a total about-face from the Pentagon’s initial denial they got anything wrong days after the attack.”

He showed video of Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying on September 1 this was “a righteous strike.”

“No longer so righteous,” Tapper said before speaking with correspondent Anna Coren, who reported on serious questions about the strike just days ago.

“It was pretty clear from your investigation a few days ago,” Tapper said, “that the U.S. military had made a huge, tragic mistake here in one of the United States’ very last acts in this 20-year war in Afghanistan. What is the response going to be?”

Coren said people are “shocked” that the military “is actually owning up to this,” but they likely came forward because “there’s been a lot of pressure on the military to do this mea culpa.”

She noted CNN’s reporting as well as similar reporting from outlets like The New York Times.

Coren broke down details from the lead-up to the strike, including that what the military suspected to be explosives were water containers.

Tapper added, “One wonders how much the Pentagon would be admitting this if it weren’t for your reporting and The New York Times and other media outlets.”

You can watch above, via CNN.