The president of the United States, Joe Biden, received in a solemn ceremony at a military base the remains of the 13 soldiers killed in the attack on Thursday at the Kabul airport, amid strong criticism from the opposition for his handling of the Afghan crisis. The suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) group killed more than 170 people and was the deadliest launched in Afghanistan against Pentagon forces since 2011.. In retaliation this Saturday the United States carried out a drone attack in Afghanistan, killing two members of ISIS. And while the presidential couple was with the families of the fallen military on Sunday, the Pentagon announced the destruction of a vehicle in Kabul “eliminating an imminent threat from the Islamic State” against the airport.
One after another the coffins of the young American military personnel were deposited on the base’s airport runway. military man from Dover, Delaware, in front of the president and his wife Jill. With his hand on his heart, the president observed the descent of each one of the coffins carried by the soldiers towards dark vehicles, sometimes lowering his head in meditation.
On a cloudy day with some drizzle, the presidential couple dressed in black were accompanied by the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin; the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken; the Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley; and other senior military officials. Just before the ceremony, the delegation boarded the massive C-17 military plane carrying the 13 coffins for a short private funeral prayer, the White House reported. Two of the thirteen families had requested that the descent of the remains of their respective loved ones not be filmed.
As Commander-in-Chief of the country, Biden attended the “solemn transfer,” his first since he arrived at the White House in January this year., as a reminder of the consequences of your decisions in office. His predecessor Donald Trump (2017-2021) attended four and Barack Obama (2009-2017), two.
Five of the 13 soldiers killed in Kabul on Thursday were 20 years old. The case of a 23-year-old girl killed in the attack it aroused much emotion in the country. A week before the attack, she had been photographed with a baby in her arms during the chaotic evacuation operations at Kabul airport.
The deceased also included a 20-year-old marine from Wyoming who was going to be a father in three weeks. They were all children when the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to prevent the Taliban regime from continuing to give refuge to Al Qaeda terrorists and to persecute Osama Bin Laden, the “mastermind” behind the attacks of September 11 of that year.
Last Thursday an ISIS fighter detonated a vest with explosives while passing security checks at one of the entrances to the Kabul airport, the so-called Abbey Gate, where thousands of people gathered in the hope of being able to flee from the Taliban on one of the American flights. After that explosion there was another armed attack by jihadists in the area, according to the Pentagon.
Both attacks killed at least 170 people and left 150 injuredsources close to the Taliban indicated. For its part, the Pentagon reported the death of 13 US soldiers and 18 wounded.
“One of the worst decisions”
The Dover base, about two hours from Washington, has for decades been synonymous in American minds with the heartbreaking return of the fallen military. Those poignant moments have at times tainted the image of American presidents waging unpopular wars, to the point that certain ceremonies are closed to the media.
In power since last January, Biden saw how his popularity, relatively stable so far, fell below 50 percent after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban in mid-August. It was also affected by the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic due to the Delta variant.
Some 114,400 people, including nearly 5,500 US citizens, have been evacuated from Afghanistan by a massive airlift since August 14.. But Republicans harshly question Biden for managing that evacuation.
“This is one of the worst foreign policy decisions in the history of the United States.”the influential Republican leader in the Senate fired on Sunday, Mitch McConnell. “Much worse than Saigon (…) chen we left Saigon there were no Vietnamese terrorists left planning to attack us here on our soil. “the senator told Fox channel that he was already against the withdrawal negotiated in 2020 by then-Republican President Donald Trump with the Taliban.
Ben sasse, another Republican senator, could not hide his anger at the Democratic president Sunday morning in an interview on ABC. “Biden put our troops in danger because he didn’t have an evacuation plan.”, accused Sasse and declared that the country is “in danger because the president was incredibly weak in leaving the Bagram base” in July, until then the nerve center of the international coalition’s operations, 50 kilometers north of Kabul.
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