Trump honors fallen soldiers as Biden vacations on Afghanistan withdrawal anniversary

On the third anniversary of the deadly attack during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, former President Donald Trump participated in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the 13 service members who lost their lives. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris marked the occasion with written statements as they remained away from Washington.

The solemn event on August 26 commemorated the 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport, which claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members and nearly 200 Afghans. The attack occurred during the chaotic final days of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan after two decades of war.

President Biden, who is spending the week at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, issued a statement praising the fallen as "patriots in the highest sense" who "embodied the very best of who we are as a nation." The president acknowledged the "sacred debt" owed to the service members and their families.

Vice President Harris, who had no public events scheduled, reaffirmed her support for the decision to end the war, stating, "President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America's longest war."

The Trump team criticized the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal and the president's absence from official ceremonies honoring the fallen. Brian Hughes, a Trump adviser, told The New York Post, "Today is a solemn day and terrible reminder of the failure of Harris and Biden to protect our standing in the world and the cost of that failure."

Taking to TruthSocial, Trump wrote: "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. THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA REMAINS SILENT IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE WORST ADMINISTRATION IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY! MAGA2024," he stated.

The former president's appearance at Arlington National Cemetery included a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, accompanied by veterans injured in the Kabul attack.

Trump has previously met with Gold Star families affected by the tragedy, with some family members praising his response at last month's Republican National Convention.