DETROIT (NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump is tying Vice President Kamala Harris to the withdrawal from the Afghanistan War on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members in Kabul.
Monday marks three years since the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 American service members and more than 100 Afghans. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Trump honored the fallen service members killed in the bombing by laying a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery, joined by some of their families at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Speaking to National Guard members in Detroit, Trump attacked Harris for the withdrawal, which he set in motion, claiming that his administration would have done a better job. The former president also repeated a number of claims that have been disproven, including the value of equipment left in Afghanistan, claims that there were no U.S. soldiers killed under his leadership and claiming without offering evidence that China now controls Bagram air base.
Trump attacks Harris over Afghanistan withdrawal
Trump and his campaign have repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden over the Afghanistan withdrawal, referring to it as the most “embarrassing moment” in the nation’s history.
“Gross Incompetence — 13 DEAD American soldiers, hundreds of people wounded and dead,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social, his social media platform. “You don’t take our soldiers out first, you take them out LAST, when all else is successfully done.”
He also posted a video criticizing the Biden-Harris administration’s decisions over the troop withdrawal.
Since Biden suspended his reelection campaign, Trump has continued those attacks against Harris, pointing to the vice president’s statements that she was the last person in the room before Biden finalized his decision on the withdrawal.
“She bragged that she would be the last person in the room, and she was. She was the last person in the room with Biden when the two of them decided to pull the troops out of Afghanistan,” Trump said last week at a North Carolina rally. “She had the final vote. She had the final say, and she was all for it.”
Biden never publicly named fallen soldiers: Relatives
Last month, the relatives of some of the 13 American service members killed appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention and criticized Biden for not publicly acknowledging their loved ones. This move was seen as a response to claims from Democrats that Trump disrespects veterans and had previously referred to slain World War II soldiers as “suckers” and “losers,” which Trump denies.
In a statement on the Kabul attack anniversary, Biden said the 13 Americans who died were “patriots in the highest sense” who “embodied the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless.”
“Ever since I became Vice President, I carried a card with me every day that listed 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,” Biden said in the statement.
Harris stated she mourns the 13 U.S. service members who were killed. “My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss,” she said.
Harris said she honors and remembers all Americans who served in Afghanistan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.