Trump Targets Harris Over Afghanistan 'Humiliation'

On Monday, Donald Trump tied Vice President Kamala Harris to the chaotic Afghanistan War withdrawal on the third anniversary of the suicide bombing that killed 13 US service members, calling the attack a "humiliation." The GOP nominee laid wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of Sgt. Nicole Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover, and Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, who were among those killed in the Aug. 26, 2021, bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

• "The humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world," Trump said in an address to the National Guard Association of the United States conference in Detroit later Monday.

• The Biden administration was following a withdrawal commitment and timeline that the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban in 2020, the AP reports. A 2022 review by a government-appointed special investigator concluded decisions made by both Trump and President Biden were the key factors leading to the rapid collapse of Afghanistan's military and the Taliban takeover.
• Since Biden ended his reelection bid, Trump has been zeroing in on Harris and her roles in foreign policy decisions. He has specifically highlighted the vice president's statements that she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision on Afghanistan.
• "The voters are going to fire Kamala and Joe on Nov. 5, we hope, and when I take office we will ask for the resignations of every single official," Trump told thousands of National Guard soldiers. "We'll get the resignations of every single senior official who touched the Afghanistan calamity, to be on my desk at noon on Inauguration Day. You know, you have to fire people. You have to fire people when they do a bad job."

• In her own statement marking the anniversary of the Kabul airport attack, Harris said she mourns the 13 US service members who were killed. "My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss," she said.
• In a statement Monday on the Kabul attack anniversary, Biden said the 13 Americans who died were "patriots in the highest sense" who "embodied the very best of who we are as a nation: brave, committed, selfless."
• House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Monday that Congress will posthumously honor the 13 service members by presenting their families with the Congressional Gold Medal next month. It's the highest civilian award that Congress can bestow.

(More Afghanistan war stories.)