The Gold Star families of the 13 American servicemembers killed during the bombing of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport amid President Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 addressed the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Wednesday night, condemning Biden for forgetting their children.
Christy Shamblin and Cheryl Juels, loved ones of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, and Alicia and Herman Lopez, parents of Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, expressed both gratitude and affection for former President Trump and outrage at the poor treatment they said they have received from the Biden administration.
They recalled in-person meetings with Trump in which they reportedly spent hours discussing their children and mourning, while the Biden-run Pentagon pushed them away as they demanded answers for what happened to their children.
“While Joe Biden has refused to recognize their sacrifice, Donald Trump spent six hours at Bedminster with us,” Shamblin recalled. “He allowed us to grieve. He allowed us to remember our heroes. Donald Trump knew all of our children’s names, he knew their stories, and he spoke to us in a way that made us feel understood – like he knew our kids.”
In contrast, Herman Lopez recalled that, when his son’s remains and those of the 12 others killed in the Abbey Gate bombing returned to America, “Joe Biden met the plane, but he made the occasion more about his son, lost to cancer, than our sons and daughters lost on his watch.”
“Worse than that – he has never said their names out loud and during last month’s debate, he claimed no service members have died during his administration, none. That hurt us all deeply,” he emphasized.
Lopez read the names of the 13 service members lost in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing:
Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California.
Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California.
Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska.
Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California.
Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio.
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.
Gee, Lopez, and 11 other service members – and an estimated 170 Afghans desperately attempting to flee from the newly restored Taliban regime – lost their lives on August 26, 2021, at Karzai International Airport. A suicide bomber believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State’s Afghan wing, the Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), detonated amid a packed, turbulent crowd, killing dozens and causing mass panic. The incident occurred after days of chaos at the airport prompted by the sudden collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government of August 15.
President Biden announced in April 2021 that he would break an agreement brokered by Trump that would have ended the 20-year Afghan War on May 1 of that year, extending it into September. The Taliban – jihadist terrorist organization that had ruled the country prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks – responded to Biden violating the agreement but refusing to uphold its Trump-era promises not to attack U.S. forces and launching a full-scale campaign to take over the country. The Taliban met with little resistance and reached the gates of Kabul on August 15, prompting then-President Ashraf Ghani to flee, abandoning the city to the jihadists.
Afghan civilians began to desperately seek ways into the airport. Abbey Gate, one of the entrances to the site, was flooded with throngs of people attempting to get on a plane. Outside the airport, Afghans waded through knee-deep sewage to find alternate entrances to the airport.
On August 22, four days before the bombing, Biden said in an address to America that the situation around the airport was ripe for exploitation by terrorists.
“The security environment is changing rapidly. There are civilians crowded at the airport, although we’ve cleared thousands of them,” Biden said. “We know that terrorists may seek to exploit the situation and target innocent Afghans or American troops.”
Despite being aware of the threat, Biden failed to prevent the terrorist attack. The Gold Star families speaking at the RNC recalled Biden attempting to excuse the disaster or justify it as a victory.
Gold Star families of U.S. military members who were killed at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan in August 2021 speak during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“Joe Biden said the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an extraordinary success,” Juels recalled. “An extraordinary success. Look at our faces. Look at our pain and our heartbreak and look at our rage.”
“The humiliation of our nation was not an extraordinary success. Joe Biden may have forgotten that our children died, but we have not forgotten; Donald Trump has not forgotten,” she continued. “Joe Biden owes the men and women who served in Afghanistan a debt of gratitude and an apology.”
Alicia Lopez accused the Biden administration of trying to silence the families seeking answers for the security failure.
“There has been a deafening silence from the Biden and Harris administration,” she asserted. Despite our pleas for answers and accountability, they have pushed us away and tried to silence us.
“The Biden administration has not owned up to the bad decisions. They have not been transparent about their failures and their so-called leaders work to protect themselves rather than our sons and daughters who took the oath to defend our country,” she said.
Lopez noted that Hunter’s brother is currently in the military.
“We have another son serving in the army and we do not trust Joe Biden with his life,” she said.