As President Joe Biden vacationed at his Delaware beach house, Republican nominee Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery Monday morning to honor the 13 American service members who were killed three years ago during Biden’s botched military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony along with family members of the 13 soldiers who died in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate outside of Kabul Airport. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris released statements marking the third anniversary but neither has announced any events to publicly pay their respects. The president and first lady Jill Biden are vacationing at their home near Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while Harris holds private meetings with her staff in Washington.
"This is the third anniversary of the BOTCHED Afghanistan withdrawal, the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country," Trump wrote Monday morning on Truth Social. "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," the former president added. "Russia then invaded Ukraine, Israel was attacked, and the USA became, and is, a laughing stock all over the World."
Biden and Harris have long defended the controversial Afghanistan withdrawal. In February, Biden said he "didn't believe anyone had made a mistake" in the process, according to Politico. Harris reiterated her support for the withdrawal in a Monday statement, saying Biden "made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war."
Much went wrong, however, as Biden ended the United States’ 20-year military presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban immediately took over the country, thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies were left stranded, and "nearly $7.2 billion worth of aircraft, guns, vehicles, ammunition, and specialized equipment" fell into the hands of the Taliban, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
At the Republican National Convention last month, family of the killed service members slammed Biden and Harris for trying to silence them. "There has been a deafening silence from the Biden and Harris administration," Alicia Lopez said. "Despite our pleas for answers and accountability, they have pushed us away and tried to silence us."
"While Joe Biden has refused to recognize their sacrifice, Donald Trump spent six hours in Bedminster with us," another family member Christy Shamblin said. "He allowed us to grieve. He allowed us to remember our heroes. Donald Trump knew all of our children’s names."