Trump, Harris, Biden Commemorate Fallen US Servicemembers on Anniversary of Kabul Airport Attack

Former President Donald Trump lays a wreath alongside Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart (Ret.) and and U.S. Marine Corps. Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews (Ret.) who were injured at the Abbey Gate Bombing, during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on August 26, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 26, while President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris issued statements to mark the third anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Thirteen U.S. servicemembers—11 Marines, one Navy corpsman, and one soldier—were among the more than 170 people killed in a terrorist bombing at Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021.

Joined by family members of some of the fallen, the former president laid a wreath, paused solemnly for the bugler’s Taps, then returned to retrieve another wreath to lay again. He repeated the process three times.

Trump and his presidential campaign had spotlighted the pending anniversary for several weeks as an example of what he called the federal government’s “incompetence,” which set the stage for what unfolded that day.

The former president did not make any formal statements or comments at the ceremony or during his time at Arlington National Cemetery. His campaign staged an afternoon press call with several family members, vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), a Marine Corps veteran, and GOP congressional leaders, including Reps. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) and Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), Navy SEALS who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Biden and Harris issued separate statements calling on the nation to “mourn and honor” the 13 who perished trying to rescue others. Both mentioned each servicemember by name.

“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 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.”

President Joe Biden speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Aug. 16, 2024. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

In his statement, Biden said he carries a card with him that includes “the exact number of American service members who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan—including Taylor, Johanny, Nicole, Hunter, Daegan, Humberto, David, Jared, Rylee, Dylan, Kareem, Maxton, and Ryan.”

“We also owe their brothers and sisters-in-arms—who served and sacrificed for our freedom and future during America’s longest war,“ he said. ”20,744 American service members were wounded. 2,461 made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Harris defended the administration’s action, saying that Biden “made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war.”

“Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones,” she said. “I will never hesitate to take whatever action necessary to counter terrorist threats and protect the American people and the homeland.”

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris waves as she walks to board Air Force Two at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, N.C., on Aug. 16, 2024. Allison Joyce/AFP via Getty Images

Congressional Republicans have criticized the withdrawal from Afghanistan that unfolded less than eight months after Biden took office in hearings for the past two years, laying responsibility for it on the Biden administration.

Democrats and the Biden administration have countered that the genesis of the calamity is the Trump administration’s February 2020 Doha Agreement with the Taliban, consenting to deplete and then totally withdraw U.S. forces by May 2021, a draw-down they say that fostered the rapid deterioration of the Afghan government and turned a planned, orderly departure into a retreat debacle.

According to an 85-page analysis released by the State Department in June 2023, decision-makers in both administrations made the wrong decisions.

“The decisions of both President Trump and President Biden to end the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan had serious consequences for the viability of the Afghan government and its security,” the report states in the first of 28 findings identifying mistakes made by administration officials, intelligence agencies, the Pentagon, and those within the State Department.