OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:03 AM – Monday, August 26, 2024
SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/trump-pays-tribute-to-service-members-killed-in-afghanistan-on-3-year-anniversary/; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:
Former President Donald Trump honored the 13 service members who died three years ago during the United States’ chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal.
On Monday, Trump joined the families and loved ones of the fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery.
On August 26th, 2021, 13 U.S. service members were killed along with almost 200 people by ISIS-K suicide bomber Abdul Rahman al-Logari, who detonated an explosive vest at Abbey Gate in Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Even though President Joe Biden shared a brief statement regarding the fallen service members, the White House and his administration do not have any events planned, as Biden is vacationing at his beach house in Delaware.
“These 13 Americans — and the many more that were wounded — were patriots in the highest sense,” Biden said. “Some were born the year the war in Afghanistan started. Some were on their second or third tour. But they all raised their hand to serve a cause greater than themselves — risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, Allies, and Afghan partners. They embodied the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless. And we owe them and their families a sacred debt we will never be able to fully repay, but will never cease working to fulfill.”
Vice President Kamala Harris also shared a statement, but she similarly did not have any events planned in regard to honoring the service members.
“As I have said, President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war,” Harris said Monday. “Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated that we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda [sic] and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones." I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland.”
Meanwhile, the Trump team has continued to criticize Biden over how the evacuation was handled. Trump advisers skewered the current president for refraining from honoring service members with an official ceremony.
Trump adviser Brian Hughes told The New York Post in a statement that the anniversary is a reminder of “the failure of Harris and Biden to protect our standing in the world and the cost of that failure. Harris has proudly declared she was the last person in the room when she and Biden directed the botched withdrawal that cost the lives of Americans and our allies.”
Trump has previously had conversations and held events with Gold Star families. At the Republican National Convention (RNC) last month, a number of family members, including Christy Shamblin, took the stage to applaud Trump’s handling of the tragedy.
“While Joe Biden has refused to recognize their sacrifice, Donald Trump spent six hours in Bedminster with us,” Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee said in Milwaukee.
“He allowed us to grieve. "He allowed us to remember our heroes,” she added.
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