A Failed Commander-in-Chief

It was a massacre we saw coming, a massacre we were warned about, a massacre we could’ve prevented. And nearly two years later, 13 American families are still grieving, still feeling the pain and the loss.

The date was August 26, 2021, and American forces were in the middle of a chaotic and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan — a withdrawal for which Joe Biden bears responsibility. As we wrote at the time: “If ever there was a slow-moving train of an attack, this was it. Everyone who watched the news on Wednesday knew it was coming. Our intelligence services told us so, and our embassy sent emergency communications to the Americans in Kabul to stay away from the entry points to Hamid Karzai International Airport.”

And yet, at around 6 p.m. local time, two jihadist suicide bombers detonated themselves at Abbey Gate, one of the main entrances to the airport, and at the nearby Baron Hotel. The blasts were efficient and the carnage was appalling. Among the 182 dead were 13 American warriors — 10 U.S. Marines, two Army soldiers, and one Navy corpsman — making it the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan in more than a decade.