Former President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to honor the 13 American soldiers killed in the Abbey Gate bombing on August 26, 2021.
Trump placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris did not attend the ceremony.
Those who were killed during the suicide bombing include Marine Sgt. Nicole L. Gee; Cpl. Daegan Page; LCpl. David Espinoza; LCpl. Dylan Merola; Cpl. Humberto Sanchez; Cpl. Hunter Lopez; Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Army SSG. Ryan Knauss; Marine LCpl. Kareem Nikoui; Navy Seaman Maxton Soviak; and Marine SSgt. Darin Hoover; LCpl. Jared Schmitz; and LCpl. Rylee McCollum.
Trump also spoke to the family of SSG. Ryan Knauss, who was unable to attend the ceremony.
Ahead of the ceremony, Trump declared on Truth Social that the “BOTCHED Afghanistan withdrawal” is the “most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country.”
“Gross Incompetence – 13 DEAD American soldiers, hundreds of people wounded and dead, AMERICANS and BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT LEFT BEHIND. You don’t take our soldiers out first, you take them out LAST, when all else is successfully done. Russia then invaded Ukraine, Israel was attacked, and the USA became, and is, a laughing stock all over the World. THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA REMAINS SILENT IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE WORST ADMINISTRATION IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY! MAGA2024.”
The White House released a report in 2023 blaming Trump for the deadly withdrawal.
“President Biden’s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor,” the report says, adding that when “President Biden took office on January 20, 2021, the Taliban were in the strongest military position that they had been in since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country.”
