3 years after Afghanistan disaster, Trump visits Arlington as Harris defends Biden

Former President Donald Trump appeared at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to honor the 13 military members who lost their lives after the Biden-Harris administration’s hasty withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan three years ago.

Trump also spoke with the families of service members who lost their lives.

The Biden-Harris administration was widely criticized at the time for the botched withdrawal and the abandonment of an estimated $7 billion in military equipment to the ruling Taliban. 

As President Joe Biden vacations at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the White House released a statement on the incident. 

“We must never forget that each beloved service member we lost was a human being, who left behind entire families and communities. And together, we must never stop striving to be worthy of their ultimate sacrifice,” Biden said, according to the statement. 

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump for president in November, is facing criticism for a war-like speech she gave at last week’s Democrat National Convention, in which she failed to mention Afghanistan. 

Harris has hinted previously that she advised against the withdrawal, agreeing she was the “last person in the room” as Biden prepared to abandon Afghanistan.  

But in a statement released by the White House Monday, Harris, who is campaigning in Georgia, continued to say the withdrawal policy by Biden was correct, even as women and girls suffer cruel fates under the Taliban regime. 

“As I have said, President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war,” Harris said. “Over the past three years, our Administration has demonstrated we can still eliminate terrorists, including the leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS, without troops deployed into combat zones.” 

Trump blasted Biden and Harris on social media Monday, calling the withdrawal “the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.” 

Meanwhile, Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ 2024 running mate, has so far stayed quiet about the Afghanistan anniversary, despite a 24-year military career.  

That silence may be an indication that attacks on Walz’s statements that have misled people into thinking he served in combat and that he retired at a higher rank than he actually did, are having an effect.  

Walz also has been accused of making it appear he served in Afghanistan, when he simply traveled there as a member of Congress.  

“That is not the behavior I would expect out of a senior noncommissioned officer [such as Walz],” John Kolb, a retired Minnesota National Guard colonel who knew Walz, told the Associated Press. 

Critics of the withdrawal haven’t quibbled as much with the decision to end the war as they have with the way it was ended.  

The departure of U.S. troops was described as “chaotic,” even by media friendly to the administration. 

As such, it led to the cynical loss of American lives and the return of Taliban rule. 

U.S. troops occupied the Central Asian country in 2001 after the Taliban allowed Al Qaeda to use the country’s remote regions to train Islamic terrorist to execute the 9/11 attacks.  

“The incompetence and weakness on display from the Biden Harris administration was an insult to every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine who ever served in our U.S. military,” said Trump in his video statement. “As we mark this horrible occasion, we mourn with the families of the great American heroes who lost their lives three years ago, and we vowed to never forget the supreme sacrifice they made for our country.”