There were so many failures by Joe Biden during the debacle of a withdrawal from Afghanistan.
But perhaps none was more costly than the suicide bombing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul that killed 13 Americans. The 13 members of the military were all so young and had so much to live for — the oldest was Sgt. Taylor Hoover, 31. Most were 20-23 years old.
What was most tragic about their deaths was that the bombing could have been prevented, except for some key mistakes by the Biden administration and the people in charge. Journalist Jerry Dunleavy outlined some of the mistakes that he and James Hasson discovered during their investigation for their book, in a CBS interview this week.
I was thrilled to join @CBSNews tonite w/ the legendary @CBS_Herridge to talk my book 𝘒𝘈𝘉𝘜𝘓 & the foolishness of abandoning Bagram, the danger of relying on the Taliban for security at HKIA, & how ISIS-K’s Abbey Gate attack was likely preventable.
👉 https://t.co/G8nWGOqpjq pic.twitter.com/ipja9BYN2y
— Jerry Dunleavy 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) August 26, 2023
Dunleavy explained that the documents and witnesses he found revealed that the U.S. knew an attack was being planned, and ISIS-K was staging at a nearby hotel before the attack. But instead of taking out the cell, the U.S. asked the Taliban to do so and the Taliban failed to do it. How crazy is it that the Biden team left Americans’ security up to the Taliban? That’s beyond bad judgment.
Dunleavy also noted how Biden relinquishing control of Bagram was another big mistake that led to the bombing. Not only would Bagram have been a “much better place to do an evacuation from,” Dunleavy said, but that base contained a prison with ISiS prisoners including the bomber. When Biden abandoned it, the Taliban freed them, including the bomber.
On top of that, the U.S. had a lot of intelligence about the coming attack. As Marine Sgt. Taylor Vargas-Andrews told Congress in heartbreaking testimony, he had a chance to take out the suspect, but his superiors wouldn’t give him the okay to take the shot.
Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a U.S. Marine Corps sniper, tells Congress that he was denied permission to shoot the suicide bomber in Afghanistan that killed 13 service members and over 170 civilians:
“Plain and simple, we were ignored. Our expertise was disregarded. No one was… pic.twitter.com/A8mxNlKFkS
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) March 8, 2023
As a result, not only were the 13 Americans and more than 100 Afghans killed, many were wounded, including Vargas-Andrews who lost an arm and a leg in the bombing.
Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews lost his right arm and left leg in the explosion. pic.twitter.com/P9vm7XxTmD
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) March 8, 2023
Yet there has been no accountability, especially to the families of the dead, who feel they’ve gotten the cold shoulder from the Biden administration. As we saw, the Biden administration had to be shamed into even recognizing the deaths of their loved ones on the anniversary of the bombing. When Biden issued a very brief written statement, he couldn’t even be bothered to name the 13 who were killed.
So, a reporter asked a Pentagon spokesperson during a press briefing this week, why Vargas-Andrews was not allowed to take the shot. The response — or should I say the lack of response — was shameful.
“Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews has testified that Marine snipers at Abbey Gate spotted someone who they said matched the description of the suicide bomber, but were denied permission…to engage.”
Pentagon spokesman: “Yeah I don’t have any personal insight into that” pic.twitter.com/zXuuKiyjV6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 1, 2023
The Pentagon spokesperson didn’t answer the question, “Yeah I don’t have any personal insight into that information.” He said there had been an investigation. But all we get is it was a “challenging situation.” Yes, for which you still aren’t providing any answers. Americans, and especially the families, are owed answers.
Unfortunately, this is emblematic of the Biden administration, in general, which caused this debacle and now doesn’t want to answer up for the bad response and the horrible result.
