Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used the third anniversary Monday of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to try to blame the chaotic pullout on his Democratic White House rival, Kamala Harris.
Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the 13 service members killed in the U.S. withdrawal, and later in Detroit, he blamed Harris, the vice president, and President Joe Biden for what he called a “catastrophic” withdrawal.
“The humiliation in Afghanistan, caused by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, has triggered the collapse of American credibility and respect around the world,” Trump said in a speech to the National Guard Association of the United States.
It is the latest attempt by Trump and his campaign to sow doubt about Harris’s fitness to serve as commander in chief ahead of the Nov. 5 election and comes after Harris last week declared herself ready to lead the nation’s armed forces.
The withdrawal of US troops and the evacuation of US and allied officials, citizens and Afghans at risk of Taliban reprisals saw crowds of desperate Afghans trying to enter Kabul airport and men clinging to planes as they taxied on the runways in August 2021.
An Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghans outside an airport gate.
Harris’ campaign said the blame lies with Trump’s presidency.
“The Biden-Harris administration inherited a disaster from Donald Trump,” said Harris spokesman Ammar Moussa. “Trump wants America to forget that he had four years to get out of Afghanistan and didn’t.”
The Biden administration has honored a withdrawal commitment and timeline that the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban in 2020.
A report released by the US State Department in 2023 singled out the Trump and Biden administrations in the run-up to the withdrawal.
In recent weeks, Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, have also sought to spin Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz’s years of service as a political vulnerability. Former military service is often a key selling point for candidates in American political campaigns.
Republicans accused Walz of exaggerating his rank in the National Guard, where he served for 24 years. Walz described himself as a retired command sergeant major, one of the highest noncommissioned officer positions in the military. Although he had achieved that rank, he did not meet the requirements to retire with that title.
The Harris campaign this month removed a reference to Walz’s “command sergeant major” rank from its website. The campaign also claims Walz “misspoke” in 2018 during his campaign for Minnesota governor when he referred to “the weapons of war that I carried in war.” Walz has never been deployed to a war zone.
Trump, 78, never served in the military. Although he was draft-age during the Vietnam War, he received four deferments for education and one for health reasons after being diagnosed with bony growths on his feet.
Vance served in the Marine Corps for four years as a combat correspondent and was deployed to Iraq for about seven months. His job primarily involved writing reports on military activities for public dissemination and, at times, interacting with the media.
Harris did not serve in the military.
In 2021, Harris told CNN that she was the last person in the room with Biden when he decided to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan and end America’s longest war. She also said she was comfortable with Biden’s decision, but it’s unclear what role she played in the discussion.
Biden and Harris both released statements marking the anniversary on Monday.
“These 13 dedicated patriots represent the best of America, putting our beloved nation and their fellow Americans above themselves and putting themselves in harm’s way to keep their fellow citizens safe,” Harris said.
Asked Monday why Biden and Harris were not marking the anniversary of the Abbey Gate attack as Trump did at Arlington National Cemetery, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Trump had been personally invited by family members and that he called it a way to honor the dead.
“Another solution is to keep working,” Kirby said. “Maybe not with a lot of fanfare, maybe not with a lot of public attention, maybe not with the television cameras, but working hard and with all the strength we can every day to make sure that the families of the dead and the wounded, not just at Abbey Gate, but over the 20-odd years that we’ve been in Afghanistan, have the support that they need.”
Also Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Congress would posthumously honor the 13 service members by presenting their families with the Congressional Gold Medal next month. It is the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow.
Some information in this article comes from the Associated Press.
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