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Families who lost loved ones during the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan are lending their support to Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth, who was tapped by President-elect Trump head of the Department of Defensewas questioned by the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, where he faced more than four hours of questioning from Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
The Abbey Gate Coalition, a group of parents and families of those who tragically lost their lives in a terrorist attack after President Biden withdrew troops from Afghanistan, wrote a letter to senators on Tuesday asking them to confirm Trump’s defense candidate and double their results. criticism of the current administration’s handling of the deadly event.
“We have sat back and watched as the current administration did nothing but try to do victory laps and thumb their noses at the sacrifice our children made on that fateful day,” the letter says. “They have had no interest in giving us any of these answers that we seek and have tried to put Afghanistan in the rearview mirror, as evidenced yesterday in President Biden’s closing speech on his foreign affairs and supposed achievements “.
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A sign showing photos and names of the 13 service members killed in a terrorist attack at the Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport is seen during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 9, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The coalition has been critical of the Biden administration since the withdrawal, writing in the letter that his administration had “covered up” for it.
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“We have been stopped at every turn and given nothing but ‘bread crumbs’ to try and get us to go! We believe there has been a total cover-up in the Department of Defense with the current Secretary of Defense leading the way.” wrote the coalition.
Pete Hegseth testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill on January 14, 2025. (Allison Robbert/Getty Images)
The families said the process of accountability on Afghanistan begins with Hegseth’s confirmation to lead the Defense Department.
“We ask that you please listen to our words and feel the pain we do, knowing that it was avoidable in terms of what happened to our children,” the letter reads.
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A U.S. Marine holds a child over a barbed wire fence during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 19, 2021. (Courtesy of Omar Haidiri/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden administration chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of 13 US service members defending Kabul airport during the operation, while hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies were left in the country under Taliban rule. Conservative critics, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the withdrawal opened the way for adversaries such as Russia to invade Ukraine.
The Taliban claimed control of Afghanistan after the withdrawal.
Families who lost loved ones during the botched retreat have previously and repeatedly criticized Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over his death, including launching a scathing defensive attack on Harris as he ran for president after the ‘anniversary of withdrawal last year. Parents and other loved ones claimed that “the administration killed my son” and that they “have not seen any support from you or your administration.”
Taliban fighters mark the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kabul on August 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
Trump, for his part, has done so repeatedly they remembered service members who died and invited their families to the Republican convention in Milwaukee in July.
Former President Trump stands next to Misty Fuoco, whose sister, Sgt. Nicole Gee, died in the Abbey Gate bombing, during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on August 26, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Look at our faces. Look at our pain and heartbreak. And look at our anger. (The withdrawal from Afghanistan) was not an extraordinary success,” said Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, at the RNC. “Joe Biden owes the men and women who served in Afghanistan a debt of gratitude and an apology.”
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“While Joe Biden has refused to acknowledge his sacrifice, Donald Trump spent six hours in Bedminster with us,” Nicole Gee’s mother-in-law told the RNC. “He allowed us to mourn, he allowed us to remember our heroes. Donald Trump knew all our children’s names, he knew their stories, and he spoke to us in a way that made us feel understood, as if he knew our children.”
