Dover Air Force Base, Delaware — President Joe Biden solemnly returns to US soil from Afghanistan on Sunday with a family of 13 U.S. forces killed in a suicide bombing near Kabul Airport and the bodies of loved ones. I met with great privacy.
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will also attend a “dignified transfer” of fallen troops while at Dover Air Force Base, a military ritual to receive the bodies of those killed in foreign battles. Was there.
The dead are between 20 and 31 years old and come from California and Massachusetts and other states. In a final FaceTime conversation with a 20-year-old Marine from Wyoming, who was hoping for his first child in three weeks, they said, “My guys got me.”
The five, just 20 years old, were born shortly before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the United States invaded Afghanistan to defeat al-Qaeda and dismantle the Taliban host who ruled the country. I spurred it.
After their death, thirteen young military personnel were with Americans fleeing the Taliban after the Taliban returned to power, helping the US war effort as the US coder was on the ground for the longest war. Assisted the chaotic evacuation of Afghans.
“The 13 soldiers we lost were heroes who served our best American ideals and made the ultimate sacrifice while saving the lives of others,” Biden said in a statement on Saturday. I did. “Their courage and selflessness have made it possible for more than 117,000 people at risk to reach safety.”
Corrupted families often travel to Dover, where flag-bearing transfer cases are taken out of transport and returned to American soil.
Except for the quiet command of the honorary guard carrying the transfer case, the pastor’s short prayer is usually the only word spoken during the ritual.
All three of Biden’s recent predecessors as president attended the majestic transfer of troops killed in the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan. This is the first time Biden has attended a ceremony as president, but he was here before.
Biden attended the dignified transfer of two U.S. soldiers who committed suicide at Bagram Airfield in the last few months of the 2016 Vice President. In 2008, at the request of a senator and a sad family, he attended one for a soldier who was killed. With a car bomb in Iraq. Biden told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that he would need permission from the Pentagon to participate in the transfer.
The 13 troops who died in Kabul were the first US soldiers killed in Afghanistan since February 2020. At that time, the Trump administration reached an agreement with the Taliban calling on militant groups to stop attacks on Americans in exchange for US commitment. Eliminate all US troops and contractors by May 2021. Biden announced in April that it would dismiss all units by September.
Eleven of the 13 Americans killed were Marines. One was a Navy sailor and the other was an Army soldier.
By Aamer Madhani
