Families of 13 U.S. soldiers killed in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 expressed disappointment as President Biden delivered a brief eulogy for them at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
In what may be his final address to the United Nations, Biden, 81, defended the gaffe as “a difficult decision but the right decision.”
“This suicide bombing took the lives of 13 brave Americans and hundreds of Afghans. [of] Lives lost — I think [of] “I go to see them every day,” the president said, stammering from his prepared remarks.
Relatives of the Americans who died were skeptical.
“He thinks about them because they are victims of his reckless decisions and policies,” Gold Star father Steve Nikoy told The Post in a text message. “When he says he thinks about them every day, what he really means is that he despises them because he thinks they tarnished his legacy.”
“This withdrawal and loss of life are the main reason why he ended his one-term presidency,” Nikoui added. Nikoui's son, Marine Corporal Kareem, was among the victims killed by an ISIS suicide bomber at the Abiy Gate of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport.
“He has no idea what he's talking about at this point. The speech was written by a member of his staff who is trying to cover up Joe Biden's involvement in the huge blunder of withdrawing from Afghanistan,” Darin Huber, a Gold Star father, also told The Post in a text message.
Mr. Hoover lost his son, Marine Sergeant Taylor Hoover, in the bombing, which also killed at least 169 Afghan civilians and wounded dozens more.
“It's a lie to say he thinks about his children every day. He doesn't even say their names because he doesn't know them. It was his decision to leave Afghanistan and leave the way he did. He has blood on his hands and we will never forget,” Huber added.
Biden: Make a statement Memorials have been erected on the anniversaries of the atomic bombings in the past, some of which list the names of individual service members, but publicly acknowledging the 13 war dead on a global stage is unusual.
“I'm glad he finally mentioned them in his speech, but he's doing it when he leaves office,” Herman Lopez, who lost his 22-year-old son, Marine Corporal Hunter Lopez, in the bombing, told The Washington Post in a phone interview.
“It's a little late,” he added, “I have mixed emotions.”
Alicia Lopez echoed her husband's sentiments, saying she was “glad he finally told me about it,” adding, “I'm sad it took him three years to tell me.”
Many members of Gold Star families have long felt there has been a lack of recognition from the Biden-Harris administration.
Earlier this month, Congress posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest honor, to 13 fallen service members, honoring them in a ceremony with Gold Star families in the Capitol Rotunda.
The Lopez family has another son serving in the military, and they stressed they still want accountability.
“[Biden] “He half-admits, but he doesn't admit that there were some failures. And he's not the only one to blame,” Herman Lopez stressed. “We've been asking for accountability for more than three years.”
Gold Star families slammed Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris last month after her visit to the graves of their loved ones at Arlington National Cemetery with former President Donald Trump was accused of being a political stunt.
The U.S. military has accused the Trump campaign of partisan political activity at the sacred site, where physical clashes reportedly broke out between cemetery officials and campaign workers.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) threatened to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt for ignoring a subpoena to testify on Tuesday.
Additionally, House Republicans are considering legislation to censure senior administration officials over the incident.
McCaul's team released a scathing report on the Afghanistan withdrawal earlier this month, concluding that the administration ignored the advice of senior military leaders and the situation on the ground.
“The reason neither Joe Biden nor Secretary of State Blinken can get Afghanistan on their side quickly is because they know they got it wrong, and in the process, they're putting the lives of veterans at risk because they don't understand what their time in the war was for,” Hoover argued.
“We're looking for answers and reasons why there has been such a decline in withdrawals.”
During a presidential debate earlier this month, Harris supported Biden's controversial decision to withdraw from Afghanistan despite soldiers being killed.
“Four presidents have said they would, and Joe Biden did,” the vice president argued, “and the result is that American taxpayers are not paying $300 million a day to pay for that endless war.”
