Mike Johnson to honor families of Abbey Gate victims with Congressional Gold Medal – Washington Examiner
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the families of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the Abbey Gate suicide bombing during the Afghanistan withdrawal will receive the Congressional Gold Medal. This announcement coincides with the third anniversary of the attack at Kabul Airport, which occurred in August 2021. Johnson described the Congressional Gold Medal as the highest honor Congress can bestow and emphasized the need to recognize the sacrifices made by these service members and their families. He condemned the withdrawal as a significant foreign policy failure, stating it resulted in dire consequences and emboldened adversaries. Johnson noted that the act to honor the victims’ families is overdue, acknowledging their ongoing suffering. The bombing resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghan civilians, marking a tragic moment in the chaotic end of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
Mike Johnson to honor families of Abbey Gate victims with Congressional Gold Medal
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) revealed Monday that he will give the Congressional Gold Medal to family members of the 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan.
The announcement from Johnson was made on the third anniversary of the terrorist attack at the Kabul Airport, which occurred during the Biden administration’s withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan. Johnson explained that the Congressional Gold Medal is “the highest honor that Congress can pay” to anyone. He underscored the need to recognize the sacrifices made by the 13 service members and their families.
“We have to make sure that the American people know that sacrifice,” Johnson said on Fox News’s Fox & Friends. “It was the greatest foreign policy blunder of our lifetimes. It led to a series of other events and emboldened our adversaries around the world, and allowed the Taliban to take back over, and we effectively sacrificed 20 years of our effort in servicemen and women who served there. It was a terrible thing. But Congress is going to make it right as best as we can and honor them in that very important way.”
Johnson added that this commencement is “overdue” since the tragedy occurred three years ago and that the family members of these service members are still suffering. He also said Congress would do all that it could “in a bipartisan way” to honor the families and said they deserve it.
The United States’s withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan was expedited in August 2021 from its original deadline of Sept. 11, 2021, during which the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s government. On Aug. 26, a suicide bombing occurred at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, which killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghan citizens.
The members killed included Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, Navy Petty Officer Third Class Maxton W. Soviak, and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss.
President Joe Biden issued a statement Monday commemorating the 13 members and called them “patriots in the highest sense.”
Former President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath honoring the 13 members. On Truth Social, Trump condemned the Afghanistan withdrawal as “the most EMBARRASSING moment in the history of our Country.”
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