Fifth Anniversary of the Attack at Abbey Gate
At 5:36 p. m.
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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
At 5:36 p.m. on August 26, 2021, a lone ISIS-K terrorist pressed into the crowd at Abbey Gate in Kabul, Afghanistan, and detonated a body-worn bomb. The terrorist was one of the thousands of prisoners released by the Taliban just 2 months earlier. As a result, 13 American service members were killed, 45 were wounded, and more than 160 civilians were injured.
As a Nation, it is our sacred duty to honor — with the deepest respect and reverence — the men and women in uniform who gave their lives that day, to remember all that was taken from their families, and to never forget their names: Staff Sergeant Ryan C. Knauss, USA; Staff Sergeant Darin T. Hoover, USMC; Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo, USMC; Sergeant Nicole L. Gee, USMC; Corporal Hunter Lopez, USMC; Corporal Daegan W. Page, USMC; Corporal Humberto A. Sanchez, USMC; Lance Corporal David L. Espinoza, USMC; Lance Corporal Jared M. Schmitz, USMC; Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum, USMC; Lance Corporal Dylan R. Merola, USMC; Lance Corporal Kareem M. Nikoui, USMC; and Petty Officer Third Class Maxton W. Soviak, USN.
On the fifth anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate, we solemnly honor their selflessness and valor.
For 20 years, the brave warriors of the United States Armed Forces fought across the mountains and cities of Afghanistan to destroy terrorism and remove the Taliban from power. Yet within months, President Biden squandered those hard-fought gains, putting politics over strategy and rushing through a poorly executed withdrawal that would soon become one of the worst military disasters in our Nation’s history.
On July 2, 2021, President Biden withdrew American forces from Bagram Airfield in the middle of the night without even notifying the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces. The decision surrendered our largest military base in the country, lost billions of dollars of military equipment, and left our remaining forces without its strategic advantages as the Taliban rapidly advanced. Within weeks, the Taliban seized Bagram and freed thousands of terrorists and criminals from its prisons. Kabul soon fell, leaving our troops to carry out a desperate evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport amid the devastating collapse the previous administration’s incompetence had invited.