Families who lost loved ones during the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan are supporting Secretary of Defense candidate Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth, who was nominated by President Trump to head the Pentagon, was questioned by the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, where he was questioned for more than four hours by Republican and Democratic members.
The Abbey Gate Coalition, a group of parents and families of those who tragically lost their lives in terrorist attacks after President Biden withdrew troops from Afghanistan, wrote a letter to senators on Tuesday, warning that President-elect Trump's national defense It called for approval of candidates and doubling quotas. It downplayed their criticism of the current administration's response to the deadly incident.
“We have stood idly by as the current administration attempts to achieve victory and relive the sacrifices our children made on that fateful day,” the letter said. are. “They have no interest in giving us the answers we seek and have put Afghanistan in the rearview mirror, as further evidenced yesterday in President Biden's final speech on foreign affairs and his supposed success. I'm trying to do that.
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WASHINGTON DC – SEPTEMBER 9: Photo of the 13 military personnel killed in the terrorist attack at the Monastery Gate outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 9, 2024 in Washington. You can see a signboard displaying the name. D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The coalition has criticized the Biden administration since its departure, writing in a letter that it was being “blocked” by the Biden administration.
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“We have been thwarted at every turn and simply given ‘breadcrumbs’ to get us to leave! We feel that,” the coalition wrote.
President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, January 14, 2025. (Alison Robert)
The families said the accountability process for Afghanistan begins with confirming Hegseth to lead the Pentagon.
“We ask that you hear our words and feel our pain, knowing that what happened to our children was unavoidable,” the letter said. It's dark.
Harris rules out disastrously failed Afghan withdrawal in speech by rising number of pro-military Democrats
This image, published by human rights activist Omar Haidari to AFP on August 20, 2021, shows a young child being pushed over a barbed wire fence during an evacuation at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 19, 2021. It shows a U.S. Marine holding on. (Photo credit: -/Courtesy of Omar Heidiri/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden administration's Chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan During the operation, 13 U.S. military personnel guarding the Kabul airport were killed, leaving hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies stranded in Taliban-controlled territory. Conservative critics such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) say the withdrawal opens the door for enemy countries such as Russia to invade Ukraine.
After the Taliban withdrew, they claimed control of Afghanistan.
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Families who lost loved ones in the botched withdrawal have repeatedly blamed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their deaths, and after the anniversary of the withdrawal last year, Harris was elected president. She also launched a scathing defensive attack on Harris when she was running for office. His parents and other loved ones claimed that “the administration killed my son” and that they “didn't see any support from you or your administration.”
Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Sidikula Alizai)
Meanwhile, President Trump has repeatedly honored fallen service members by inviting their families to the RNC in Milwaukee in July.
After Arlington attack, Trump supporters and Gold Star families flood Harris
Former US President Donald Trump is running alongside his sister, Sergeant Misty Fuoco, as the Republican presidential candidate. Nicole Gee died in the Monastery Gate bombing on August 26, 2024, during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Look at our faces. Look at our pain and heartbreak. And look at our anger. [The Afghanistan withdrawal] “Joe Biden owes a debt of gratitude and an apology to the men and women who served in Afghanistan,” Cheryl Jewels, the aunt of Marine Petty Officer Nicole Gee, said at the RNC.
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“Joe Biden refused to acknowledge their sacrifice, but Donald Trump spent six hours with us in Bedminster,” said RNC President Nicole Gee's mother-in-law. “He allowed us to grieve, he allowed us to remember our heroes. Donald Trump knows the names of all our children, knows their stories, He spoke to us in a way that made us feel understood, as if he knew our children.”
