House Republican military veterans marked the fourth anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing that killed 13 service members in August 2021 by releasing heartfelt testimonials reflecting on the tragedy.
The group of GOP lawmakers, many of whom were deployed to Afghanistan before serving in Congress, honored the sacrifice of the fallen heroes in tribute videos obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The military veterans also torched former President Joe Biden’s decision to allow for U.S. service members to be put in harm’s way while they supported evacuation efforts, resulting in one of the deadliest attacks on American personnel during the two decades of war against the Taliban.
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Tuesday marks the anniversary of the Abbey Gate attack outside the Kabul airport on Aug. 26, 2021 — which also killed as many as 200 Afghans and injured more than 30 U.S. service members. The 13 soldiers killed during the suicide bombing were guarding Kabul’s main airport perimeter during the final days of Biden’s botched withdrawal of U.S. forces after two decades of war.
President Donald Trump, who met with dozens of family members of the fallen in the Oval Office on Monday, signed a proclamation honoring the deceased service members. The document referred to the Abbey Gate attack that killed 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman and one Army psychological operations specialist as the “single most embarrassing display of American foreign policy in the history of our country.”
“They went through hell for no reason,” Trump said in the Oval Office, referring to the Gold Star families. “It should have never happened.”
The GOP military veterans, many of whom have developed deep personal connections to Afghanistan from their deployments, agreed with the president.
“I just want to say: it didn’t have to happen that way,” Republican Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who served on two combat deployments to Afghanistan, said. “There was some absolutely terrible decision-making by the Biden administration that led to that tragedy. And honestly I don’t forgive them.”
“This is a chapter of American history — the disastrous withdrawal [out] of Afghanistan — that we should never allow to have happen again,” Republican North Carolina Rep. Pat Harrigan reflected. The North Carolina Republican served in Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces.
Trump and GOP lawmakers have consistently argued that Biden’s disastrous departure from Afghanistan was the epitome of American weakness and helped trigger the breakout of conflicts across the world, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“When America fails to lead, the world burns,” Harrigan said. “And oh did the world burn under President Biden.”
The military veterans also reflected on the personal impact of Biden’s deadly departure from Afghanistan, where many of the GOP lawmakers experienced loss during the course of the conflict.
“I’ve lost friends there,” Republican Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick, who led an emergency medicine department in Kandahar, Afghanistan, during the conflict, said. “We spent over 20 years there. 2 trillion dollars, countless lives lost — 2400 lives-plus lost in Afghanistan — and countless limbs lost. The head injuries. The time we spent away from our families. The months and years that we will never get back, only to hand the government back over to the Taliban: our mortal enemies.”
“Today, yes I’m angry — as angry as I’ve ever been at anything that any president’s ever done in my lifetime,” Republican Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, who deployed to the Middle East four times while serving in the U.S. Air Force, said.
Congressional leaders posthumously awarded the 13 fallen military service members with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2024 shortly after the third anniversary of the attack. Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain was the lead sponsor of the legislation in the House.
“The sacrifices of the 13 heroes we lost at Abbey Gate will never be forgotten,” McClain said in a statement Tuesday. “Their courage reminds us of the true cost of freedom – and of the duty we have in Congress to ensure America never again faces the chaos and tragedy we saw in Kabul. I am especially proud of my brave colleagues who served our nation in uniform and now continue that service and commitment to America’s security in Congress.”
“House Republicans will continue supporting President Trump’s peace through strength agenda – one that will secure lasting peace and honors those who have worn the uniform to defend our nation,” McClain added.
Trump announced federal authorities detained a senior Islamic State official who helped orchestrate the deadly suicide bombing, during a joint address to Congress in March. The president has also directed the Pentagon to launch a probe into the Abbey Gate attack, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expects to be released by mid-2026.
“I’m very thankful that now we have good leadership under President Trump and the amazing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth who has brought back the warrior ethos of the United States and made us strong again on the world stage,” Republican Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, who served three tours in Iraq and Kuwait as a Navy combat veteran, said. “We are not only respected, but we are feared on the world stage.”
“I just want us to remember that — remember from where we came,” Clyde continued.
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