Gold Star families devastated by Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal endorse Hegseth for SecDef

Families who lost loved ones during the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan are throwing their support behind Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth, who President-elect Trump tapped to head the Defense Department, underwent questioning from the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, where he faced over four hours of questioning from Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

The Abbey Gate Coalition, a group of the parents and families of those who tragically lost their lives in a terrorist attack after President Biden withdrew troops from Afghanistan, penned a letter to senators on Tuesday urging them to confirm Trump’s defense nominee and doubling down on their criticism of the current administration’s handling of the deadly event.

“We have been sitting by watching the current administration do nothing but attempt to take victory laps and thumb their noses at the sacrifice that our children made on that fateful day,” the letter reads. “They have had no interest in giving us any of those answers that we seek, and have attempted to put Afghanistan in the rear view mirror as was further evidenced yesterday in President Biden’s final address on his foreign affairs and his supposed successes.”

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A sign displaying photos and names of the 13 service members killed in a terrorist attack at Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport is seen during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 9, 2024.  (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

The coalition has been critical of the Biden administration since the withdrawal, writing in the letter that they have been “stonewalled” by his administration.

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“We have been stonewalled at every turn and only given ‘bread-crumbs’ to attempt to make us just go away! We feel that there has been a complete coverup at the department of Defense with the current Secretary of Defense leading the way,” the coalition wrote.

Pete Hegseth testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill on Jan. 14, 2025. (Allison Robbert/Getty Images)

The families said the process for accountability over Afghanistan begins with the confirmation of Hegseth to lead the Defense Department.

“We ask that you please hear our words and feel the pain that we do, knowing that it was avoidable in respect to what happened to our children,” the letter reads.

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A U.S. Marine grabs an infant over a fence of barbed wire during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 19, 2021.  (Courtesy of Omar Haidiri/AFP via Getty Images)

The Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members defending the Kabul airport during the operation, while hundreds of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies were left in the country under Taliban rule. Conservative critics, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the withdrawal paved the way for adversaries such as Russia to invade Ukraine. 

The Taliban claimed control of Afghanistan following the withdrawal. 

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The families who lost loved ones during the botched withdrawal have previously and repeatedly slammed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over their deaths, including launching a scathing defense attack against Harris – when she was running for president – after the anniversary of the withdrawal last year. Parents and other loved ones claimed that the “administration killed my son” and that they “have not seen any support from you or your administration.”

Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly remembered the service members who died, and invited their families to the Republican convention in Milwaukee in July. 

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Former President Trump stands alongside Misty Fuoco, whose sister, Sgt. Nicole Gee, died in Abbey Gate bombing, during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 26, 2024.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“Look at our faces. Look at our pain, and our heartbreak. And look at our rage. [The Afghanistan withdrawal] was not an extraordinary success,” said Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, at the RNC. “Joe Biden owes the men and women who served in Afghanistan a debt of gratitude, and an apology.”

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​​”While Joe Biden has refused to recognize their sacrifice, Donald Trump spent six hours in Bedminster with us,” said the mother-in-law of Nicole Gee at the RNC. “He allowed us to grieve, he allowed us to remember our heroes. Donald Trump knew all of our children’s names, he knew their stories, and he spoke to us in a way that made us feel understood, like he knew our kids.”