DETROIT (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Monday marked the third anniversary of a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. soldiers, linking Vice President Kamala Harris to the chaotic withdrawal from the Afghanistan war and calling the attack a “disgrace.”
Republican presidential candidate Trump laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery in memory of Sergeant Nicole Gee, Staff Sergeant Darin Huber and Staff Sergeant Ryan Knaus, who were killed in the suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26, 2021. He then traveled to Michigan, where he spoke at a conference of the National Guard Association.
“The humiliation in Afghanistan, unleashed by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, has caused the collapse of American credibility and respect around the world,” Trump told a crowd of about 4,000 in Detroit, including National Guard troops and their families.
Taliban fighters carry rocket launchers as they mark the third anniversary of U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, southwestern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaliq)
President Joe Biden’s administration was following through on withdrawal commitments and timelines that the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban in 2020. A 2022 review by a government-appointed special investigator concluded that decisions by both Trump and Biden were key factors that led to the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and the Taliban’s seizure of power.
Speaking to National Guard troops in Detroit, Trump said withdrawing troops from Afghanistan was the right decision but poorly executed. “We intended to leave with dignity and with strength,” he said. He called the attack “the most shameful day in our nation’s history.”
Since Biden gave up on reelection, Trump has zeroed in on Harris, the current Democratic presidential nominee, and her role in foreign policy decisions, particularly highlighting the vice president’s comment that she was the last person in the room before Biden made a decision on Afghanistan.
“We expect the voters to fire Kamala and Joe on November 5th, and when I take office, I will ask for the resignation of every official,” Trump said in Detroit. “I will have the resignations of every senior official involved in the disaster in Afghanistan on my desk by noon on Inauguration Day. You know, people have to be fired. People who are bad at their jobs have to be fired.”
In a statement marking the one-year anniversary of the Kabul airport attack, Harris said she mourned the 13 U.S. service members who were killed. “My prayers go out to their families and loved ones. My heart is broken by their suffering and loss,” she said.
Harris said she respects and remembers all Americans who served in Afghanistan.
Donald Trump campaigned in Michigan today on the third anniversary of the deadly bombing during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Jennifer King of the Associated Press reports.
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“As I said, President Biden has made the courageous and right decision to end the longest war in American history. Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated that we can eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al Qaeda and ISIS, without sending troops to combat zones,” she said. “I will never hesitate to take any action necessary to counter the terrorist threat and protect the American people.”
In a statement on Monday, Biden said the 13 Americans who died were “patriots in the highest sense of the word” and “embodied the very best of our nation: bravery, commitment and selflessness.”
“Since becoming vice president, I have carried a card every day with the exact number of American soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Taylor, Johanie, Nicole, Hunter, Dagan, Humberto, David, Jared, Riley, Dylan, Kareem, Maxton and Ryan,” Biden said.
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Family members of slain U.S. soldiers took to the stage at the Republican National Convention last month and spoke at a news conference Monday with Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Mr. Trump’s running mate. They said they are still trying to understand how their loved ones died.
“It’s sad and scary at the same time to see them think it’s OK and treat it as a page in a book to turn to read the next chapter,” said Alicia Lopez, mother of Marine Corporal Hunter Lopez, who has another son serving in the military. “I pray that I don’t get another knock on my door because of this administration’s lack of accountability for its troops.”
Asked by reporters on Monday why Biden and Harris would not mark the anniversary of the Abbey Gate attack at Arlington National Cemetery, as President Trump has done, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Trump had received a personal invitation from the families and that it was a way to honor the victims.
“The other way is to keep doing the job,” Kirby said. “It may not have the fanfare, it may not have the publicity, it may not have the publicity, it may not have the TV cameras, but it’s to keep working as hard as you can every day to make sure that the families of those who were killed or injured during our 20-odd years in Afghanistan, not just at Abbey Gate, get the support they need.”
Also Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, announced that Congress will posthumously honor 13 military members next month by awarding their families the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award Congress can bestow.
Under Trump, the US signed a peace deal with the Taliban that was meant to end America’s longest war and bring US troops home. Biden later mentioned the deal when he tried to shift the blame for the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan, saying it obligated them to withdraw troops and set the stage for the chaos that has engulfed the country.
The Biden administration’s withdrawal review acknowledged that the withdrawal of Americans and allies from Afghanistan should have begun sooner but blamed the delays on assessments by the Afghan government and military, and U.S. military and intelligence agencies.
Two of the top U.S. military officials who oversaw the withdrawal said the administration’s withdrawal plan was inadequate. Gen. Mark Milley, the military’s highest-ranking officer and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, told lawmakers earlier this year that he had asked Biden to keep 2,500 remaining troops to provide cover. But Biden decided to keep a much smaller force of 650, limited to guarding U.S. embassies.
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Associated Press writer Aamer Madani contributed to this report from Washington.
