Paula Knauss Self, the mother of one of the 13 soldiers killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday blasted Vice President Kamala Harris for the failure to withdraw U.S. troops on Aug. 26, 2021.
Self’s son, Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Christian Knauss, was killed in a suicide bomb attack by an ISIS member at Hamid Karzai International Airport as US troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan. In an interview marking the third anniversary of the withdrawal, Self told CNN’s Brianna Keilar that the Biden-Harris administration is “trying to sweep the problem under the rug” instead of trying to right its own wrongs.
“It would be great if the administration could start saying, ‘We made mistakes. We made some mistakes. We didn’t make the best decisions,’ but this administration is trying to cover it up. This is never going to work for the country or for the world that was watching this live on television. You can’t deny what we all knew and saw,” Self said.
Self then called on Harris to take responsibility for the attack because she was involved in administration decision-making on the matter. Confirmed In an April 25, 2021 interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, she said she was “the last person in the room” when President Joe Biden made the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021.
“You’ve been in the administration this whole time. You have the same responsibilities as President Biden. You were right beside him as he made all of these decisions,” Self said of Harris. “And if you’re not, what kind of leader are you going to be in the future if you didn’t make the same decisions as him on this?”
The mother of Staff Sergeant Ryan Christian Knauss, one of the 13 service members killed in Afghanistan three years ago, told CNN that Kamala Harris bears responsibility for the failed withdrawal. pic.twitter.com/EoxbYXUFSY
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 26, 2024
Self said Biden showed a lack of sympathy as he broke down in tears in front of him at the White House and called for someone of “better character” to be in the Oval Office. He said Republican nominee Donald Trump spoke to him himself by phone on Monday and expressed regret for what happened. (Related: CNN’s Jim Acosta suggests President Trump is “politicizing” 13 service members by visiting Arlington National Cemetery)
“What Trump told me was he was sorry. He said he was very sorry that this happened and that it should never have happened,” the Gold Star mother said. “And he’s right, it should never have happened.”
While Biden was vacationing in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, President Trump paid tribute to fallen military members at a third-anniversary ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.
The Biden administration has yet to fire anyone involved in the operation, and no one has resigned. The Biden administration’s 2023 report put most of the blame on the Trump administration, given that President Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban in 2020 to withdraw U.S. troops by 2021.
The Trump campaign responded to the reports, arguing that the operation would have been “safe and secure” under Trump as president, and accused the Biden administration of trying to “gaslight the American people” rather than take responsibility.
According to a new book published in February, the president reportedly believed “no one made a mistake” during the withdrawal, despite widespread backlash from Gold Star recipient families and critics. During a June 27 debate, the president falsely claimed that no Americans had died overseas during his presidency.
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