Vice President Kamala Harris issued a statement Monday morning honoring the 13 U.S. service members who were killed during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago, but has been conspicuously absent from public memorials or events on the anniversary of their deaths.
Harris released a statement early Monday morning naming the 13 U.S. service members who were killed during the terrorist attack at Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, mourning their deaths and calling on Americans to “come together as one nation to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice three years ago.”
“Today and everyday, I mourn and honor them. My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss. These 13 devoted patriots represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe,” Harris wrote in the statement.
Harris also posted her statement to her vice president X account on Monday.
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Fox News Digital reached out to both Harris’ campaign and her vice presidential office asking if she had plans to honor the service members during live events, whether public or private, but did not receive responses.
The anniversary of the tragic military deaths comes after Harris wrapped up in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention last week, where she officially accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the Oval Office after President Biden dropped out of the race last month amid mounting concern over his mental acuity. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are slated to visit Georgia next week in their first public event following the DNC, NBC News reported.
Israeli citizens speak with Fox News Digital to discuss their varying views on what a Harris presidency would mean for the people of Israel. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)
Biden also honored the 13 fallen U.S. service members in an early morning statement. The president is in Delaware at his beach home this week, and has no public events scheduled, Fox Digital reported earlier Monday.
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“These 13 Americans—and the many more that were wounded—were patriots in the highest sense. 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. 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,” Biden wrote in his statement, which also included the 13 names of the service members.
In this Aug. 21, 2021, photo provided by the U.S. Marines, U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Central Command, provide assistance at an evacuation control checkpoint during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/U.S. Marine Corps via AP)
During her acceptance speech last week, Harris touted her foreign policy record and support of veterans, but left out any mention of the Biden-Harris administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists. And I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un, who are rooting for Trump. Because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors. They know Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable — because he wants to be an autocrat,” Harris touted from the DNC’s stage in Chicago Thursday evening.
“As president, I will never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals. Because, in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand — and where the United States of America belongs.”
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In addition to the deaths of the 13 U.S. service members defending the Kabul airport during the botched withdrawal, hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies were left in the country under Taliban rule. Critics such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the withdrawal paved the way for adversaries such as Russia to invade Ukraine.
The Taliban ultimately claimed control of Afghanistan following the withdrawal.
This image made available to AFP on August 20, 2021 by Human Rights Activist Omar Haidari, shows a US Marine grabbing an infant over a fence of barbed wire during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 19, 2021. (Courtesy of Omar Haidiri/AFP via Getty Images)
Harris previously confirmed that she was the “last person in the room” with Biden before he made the decision to withdraw and also told the media that she was “comfortable” with the operation that ultimately turned deadly and chaotic.
On the Republican side of the presidential race, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly honored the fallen service members, including families of those killed during the withdrawal, taking the RNC’s stage last month in Milwaukee for 20 minutes in an emotional remembrance. The families also criticized Biden in their remarks from the RNC’s stage, calling on the president to apologize to them.
“Look at our faces. Look at our pain, and our heartbreak. And look at our rage. [The Afghanistan withdrawal] was not an extraordinary success,” Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, said. “Joe Biden owes the men and women who served in Afghanistan a debt of gratitude, and an apology.”
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On the anniversary Monday, Trump traveled to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia for a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and was again joined by the families of those killed in Afghanistan three years ago.
The 45h president was seen listening to taps, laying the wreath at the tomb, and meeting with family members during the solemn ceremony.
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – AUGUST 26: Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump stands alongside Bill Barnett (L), who’s grandson Staff Sgt Darin Taylor Hoover died in Abbey Gate Bombing, during a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on August 26, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. Monday marks three years since the August 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 American service members. (Getty Images )
Trump has consistently slammed the Biden administration for its botched withdrawal from the country in 2021, calling it the “most embarrassing moment” in U.S. history in a Truth Social post on Monday.
“This is the third anniversary of the BOTCHED Afghanistan withdrawal, 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,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, clasps her hand in the air with President Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby fielded questions from the media regarding the Afghanistan withdrawal on Monday, including a reporter asking why Biden and Harris felt they “did not need to host or attend public events in the way that former President Donald Trump did today.”
“You don’t have to look very far at the president and the first lady’s track record and the vice president’s track record, over the last three and a half years to see how deeply devoted they are to the men and women of our military and to our veterans and to their families. Everything from Joining Forces to the Pact Act,” Kirby responded.
He added that Trump was personally invited by the families to join them at Arlington National Cemetery, and that there are “many ways” for U.S. leaders to honor the fallen service members that does not include “a lot of fanfare.”
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“Another way is to continue to work. Maybe not with a lot of fanfare. Maybe not with a lot of public attention. Maybe not with TV cameras, but to work with might and main every single day to make sure that the families of those, of the fallen and of those who were injured and wounded, not just at Abbey gate, but over the course of the 20 some odd years that we were in Afghanistan, have the support that they need,” he said.