Attempted assassination of Dick Cheney

On February 27, 2007, at approximately 10 a.m. local time, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the outer gate of Bagram Airfield, the main U.S. airbase in Afghanistan located about 60 km north of Kabul. The attack killed 23 people and injured at least 20 others. Among the dead were U.S. soldier PFC Daniel Zizumbo, an American contractor, South Korean soldier SSG Yoon Jang-ho, and 20 Afghan workers employed at the base.

Vice President Dick Cheney was on the base at the time, having arrived the previous day to meet with U.S. allies. U.S. officials stated that Cheney was never in danger, reporting that he was approximately one mile from the site of the explosion. The attacker did not attempt to pass through any U.S. security checkpoints and instead detonated the device among a group of Afghans at the gate.

A man identifying himself as a Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, told the Associated Press that the Taliban had advance knowledge of Cheney's visit and that Cheney had been the intended target of the attack. U.S. officials publicly expressed skepticism about this claim. One unnamed U.S. spokesman called the assertion "far-fetched," noting that Cheney "wasn't even supposed to be here overnight, so this would have been a surprise to everybody." Lt. Col. David Accetta, another U.S. spokesman, said that characterizing the bombing as a direct attempt on the vice president's life was "absurd."

Later reporting, drawing on information released as part of the SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) "Lessons Learned" reports, indicated that word of Cheney's presence at Bagram had in fact leaked ahead of the attack, and that the bomber had targeted a convoy leaving the base in the belief that Cheney was inside it. According to these later accounts, Cheney had originally been scheduled to depart in a different convoy, one set to leave roughly 30 minutes after the convoy that was attacked. Media commentary following the release of this information noted that it appeared to undermine the earlier skeptical statements made by U.S. officials and lent support to the Taliban's claim that the bombing had been a serious attempt on Cheney's life.

The case remains characterized in available sourcing as an attack attributed to the Taliban, with the bomber's identity not specified in available material. No named individual has been charged or convicted in connection with the bombing according to the sourcing reviewed.