U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) marked the fifth anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing on Wednesday, honoring the 13 American service members killed in the August 26, 2021, attack outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, including Missouri native Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz.
Hawley posted on X at 7:40 a.m. on August 26, 2026:
“Remembering today the 13 American service members who lost their lives at Abbey Gate 5 years ago, including Lcpl Jared Schmitz from Missouri.
Erin and I are praying for their families.
NEVER forget.”
The post, shared under Hawley’s official senator account, was published on the exact five-year mark of the attack, which occurred as U.S. forces were conducting a chaotic evacuation of American citizens and Afghan allies from Kabul in the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
What Happened at Abbey Gate
Abbey Gate was one of several access points into Hamid Karzai International Airport used during the August 2021 evacuation, when tens of thousands of Afghans and Americans crowded outside the airport’s perimeter seeking passage out of the country following the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s rapid takeover. On August 26, 2021, an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated an explosive device amid the crowd at the gate, killing 13 U.S. service members and wounding 47 others, while also killing more than 170 Afghan civilians. The 13 U.S. service members killed in the ISIS-K suicide bombing at Abbey Gate were 11 Marines, one Navy hospital corpsman, and one Army soldier.
Among the dead was 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz of St. Louis, Missouri, the service member Hawley specifically named in Wednesday’s post. Also killed were Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, and Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, along with the remaining members of the 13 who died that day. The attack remains the deadliest single incident for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in more than a decade and one of the final chapters of the nearly 20-year American military presence in the country.
Hawley’s Long-Standing Focus on Abbey Gate
Wednesday’s post is the latest in a series of statements Hawley has made marking the anniversary and pressing for accountability over the Kabul withdrawal since 2021. In September of that year, Hawley introduced a Senate resolution honoring Schmitz and each of the 56 Missourians who died during the Afghanistan war, which passed the Senate unanimously.
On the one-year anniversary in 2022, Hawley’s office issued a statement reiterating that Hawley continually demanded accountability from the Biden administration for the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
That same year, Hawley pressed U.S. Central Command directly on the failures that preceded the bombing. Questioning Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on CENTCOM’s investigative report into the attack, Hawley said the report “contains shocking information about this administration’s total failure to plan for the collapse of the Afghan Security Forces despite being warned about it for months upon months, and to withdraw American civilians in time before the tragedy at Abbey Gate which led to the death of 13 American service members.”
Hawley followed up days later with a letter to Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed pushing for open hearings, arguing that “the American public wants and deserves accountability for what transpired in Afghanistan last year, and this report is an important step in that direction.”
Legislative Efforts Tied to the Withdrawal
Hawley’s focus on Abbey Gate has extended into legislation aimed at the broader fallout from the withdrawal. He introduced the Afghanistan Vetting and Accountability Act, which would tighten Department of Homeland Security screening standards for Afghan evacuees and declassify intelligence related to the withdrawal, stating at the bill’s original introduction that “nearly seven months after the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, there has been zero accountability. Now we know that the vetting process for evacuees was rushed and careless.”
Hawley reintroduced the measure again in late 2025 following a shooting involving an Afghan evacuee near the U.S. Capitol, telling reporters that “Joe Biden didn’t just botch our withdrawal from Afghanistan, he put Americans at risk by allowing tens of thousands of refugees into our country without proper vetting,” and that his bill would codify measures the Trump administration had begun in order to “protect our heroes and ensure anyone allowed into our country is not a threat to our own citizens.” Hawley was also among nearly 20 Senate Republicans who cosponsored a joint resolution establishing a National Day of Remembrance for the 13 service members lost at Abbey Gate.
A Broader Day of Remembrance Across Washington
Hawley was not alone in marking the fifth anniversary on Wednesday. Sean Parnell, chief Pentagon spokesperson and chairman of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel, issued his own update on the anniversary, while Rep. Brian Mast wrote that the 13 service members “embodied the very best of our nation” and “served with courage, selflessness, and honor.” Congressional offices across both chambers have used the anniversary in recent years to press for continued investigation into the withdrawal and to honor the individual service members by name.
Recognition and Remembrance Efforts for Schmitz
The anniversary has also coincided with steps to formally recognize the valor of those who defended Abbey Gate. In April, the Pentagon upgraded valor awards for seven Marines from Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines who held the gate during the bombing, a decision Schmitz’s father, Mark Schmitz, said he was “ecstatic” about while noting it remained “just a step in the right direction.” The upgrades recognized the extreme risks taken by the Marines as they held Abbey Gate during the chaotic final days of the 2021 Kabul evacuation.
In Missouri, where Schmitz was from, the anniversary has become an occasion for public memorials as well. Earlier this month, more than 500 people took part in the “Angels of Abbey Gate Memorial Ride” in St. Peters, Missouri, organized by The Freedom 13, a nonprofit started by Schmitz’s parents that carries photographs of all 13 fallen service members. The group’s brand ambassador, Greg Doolin, said driving the memorial truck to such events is “our way of carrying on their memory and legacy.
Continued Political Attention on the Withdrawal
The Abbey Gate bombing has remained a focal point of congressional scrutiny into the broader U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in the years since, with lawmakers including Hawley pushing for declassified intelligence, expanded hearings, and formal accountability measures aimed at the Biden administration’s handling of the evacuation. Hawley has previously proposed establishing a Senate Select Committee on the Afghanistan Withdrawal to formally investigate the bombing and the fate of Americans left behind after the withdrawal was completed.
Wednesday’s post continued that pattern, pairing a personal message of condolence for the families of the fallen with the same call for remembrance that has marked each anniversary since 2021. The senator’s office did not indicate whether additional statements or legislative action tied to the anniversary would follow later Wednesday.