Former President Donald Trump paid tribute to those killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal three years after the chaotic withdrawal from Kabul, joining families of fallen soldiers in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, while President Biden spent the holiday season away from the White House for the second straight week.
Monday marked the third anniversary of the day that 13 service members were killed in a terrorist bombing during the Biden administration’s failed Afghanistan withdrawal. On Aug. 26, 2021, ISIS-K suicide bomber Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated an explosive vest outside the Abiy Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport, killing a service member and about 200 Afghans.
The White House had not issued a statement on the anniversary on Monday. Biden is spending this week at his beach house in Rehoboth, Delaware, after vacationing in California for more than half of last week. Vice President Kamala Harris has no public events scheduled.
The Trump campaign has sharply criticized Biden for his handling of the evacuations and slammed the president for never honoring the families of fallen military personnel in an official ceremony.
The private event in Arlington was intended to highlight Biden and Harris’ roles in the withdrawal after Harris said she was the last person in the room when the withdrawal was ordered.
“Today is a solemn day, a terrible reminder of Harris and Biden’s failure to protect our nation’s standing in the world and the cost of that failure. Harris proudly proclaimed that she was the last person in the room when she and Biden ordered the botched withdrawal that cost the lives of Americans and our allies,” Trump adviser Brian Hughes told The Post in a statement.
Hughes added: “The message to the American people is that they should see the stark contrast between Trump’s record and Harris/Biden’s record on how to use the nation’s military power around the world.”
Gold Star families have spoken with Trump in the past: Several of them, including Christy Shamblin, took to the stage at the Republican National Convention to speak about Trump and the Biden administration’s response to the bombing.
“Joe Biden refused to acknowledge their sacrifice, but Donald Trump spent six hours with us in Bedminster,” Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Marine Sergeant Nicole Gee, said at the Republican National Convention.
“He allowed us to grieve. He allowed us to remember our heroes,” she added.
Trump has argued that the chaotic withdrawal has given rise to a sense of American weakness that has encouraged other countries to start conflicts around the world.
“This marks the third anniversary of the most shameful moment in our nation’s history: the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan. Gross incompetence, 13 American soldiers killed, hundreds wounded or killed, Americans and billions of dollars worth of military equipment left behind,” Trump posted on TruthSocial on Monday.
“Instead of removing our soldiers first, they are the last to be removed after everything else has succeeded. Then Russia invaded Ukraine, Israel was attacked, and America became a laughing stock around the world. The Fake News Media continues to remain silent to protect the worst regime in the history of our country! MAGA2024.”
During the disastrous debate that sparked a nearly month-long coup to remove Biden as the Democratic nominee, the president boldly claimed he was “the only president in this century, this decade, who has not had a soldier die anywhere in the world.” [Trump] did.”
The remarks infuriated Kabul Gold Star families, who told The Washington Post it was further evidence that Biden has not acknowledged their losses.
“It took all my self-control not to put my fist through the TV,” Mark Schmitz, whose son, Marine Corporal Jared Schmitz, was among the 13 victims, told The Washington Post at the time.
“I went beyond anger to a feeling of lack of respect, and that’s all we’ve got from this president,” he added.
