Speaking on NewsNation's “On Balance” on Monday, Steve Nikoi, father of Corporal Kareem Nikoi, who was killed in the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing, said the Biden administration had failed to stop the bombing at every level and therefore chose to step down during the worst fighting season so President Joe Biden could leave office on 9/11 and make a good impression.
“I think we expect our leaders to do everything they can. I've been going to Washington, D.C., for the last 14 months, listening to Foreign Service hearings and congressional hearings by different people that they've convened, and I can honestly say that this administration, at every level, has failed to mitigate the loss of these 13 children's lives, and that starts with the Doha agreement,” Nikoui said.
Presenter Leland Wittert then interjected, asking Nikoi if politics or incompetence was to blame.
Nikoui responded:[D]Total incompetence. They have not honored the Doha Agreement at all. They chose to withdraw from Afghanistan at the time when we were most likely to withdraw. [when] The Taliban are in a state of war. So if we had withdrawn by the May 1 deadline, May 1 would have been the time when the Taliban would not normally be fighting. So instead of withdrawing at that time, they waited until the peak of the fighting, which was September 11, so that the Taliban could withdraw and look good. Secondly, after it was all over, after it was all said and done, they killed innocent families and tried to make them scapegoats.”
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