Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack and said Vice President Cheney was its target, although there is no proof that any terrorist organization was aware of Cheney's presence on the base. However, recently a Taliban spokesman said that Osama Bin Laden himself planned the attack, and reiterated that Cheney was the intended target. This claim is supported by the relatively limited number of large suicide bombings carried out in Afghanistan, combined with the intensity of this attack, and the fact that Cheney was at the base. However, since there is no proof that the Taliban knew Cheney was there, this could be an opportunistic claim to try to show that Osama Bin Laden is still active.
Cheney was unhurt in the attack. Among the dead were an American soldier, PFC Daniel Zizumbo, an American contractor, a South Korean soldier, and 20 Afghan workers at the base.