President Donald Trump marked the fifth anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing on Wednesday with a Truth Social post honoring the 13 U.S. service members killed in the 2021 attack, using the occasion to renew his criticism of former President Joe Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal and to point to the arrest of an accused ISIS-K commander as evidence that his administration had delivered justice for grieving military families.
“Today, we honor the 13 brave American HEROES who were tragically killed five years ago by evil Jihadi terrorists in Kabul, Afghanistan,” Trump wrote in the post, published at 2:07 p.m. on August 26, 2026. “This catastrophe was a result of Sleepy Joe Biden’s totally botched Withdrawal from the Country, which left our wonderful Servicemen and women defenseless, and allowed the Taliban to free thousands of bloodthirsty terrorists and criminals held at Bagram Prison. This was one of the greatest atrocities in the History of our Nation, and we can never forget that it was the result of the sheer incompetence of Joe Biden and the Democrats who were in charge.”
Trump went on to recall his outreach to families of those killed during his 2024 presidential campaign. “During my 2024 Campaign, I met with the Abbey Gate Gold Star Families, wonderful people and Great Patriots, who were totally ignored and disrespected by the Democrat Party. I promised them we would deliver Justice when I returned to the White House — and we have! We quickly apprehended the evil mastermind responsible for the deaths of our Service members, and it has been one of my Greatest Honors as Commander in Chief. May God Bless America, and may God Bless the Abbey Gate Gold Star Families. You will NEVER be forgotten! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The Abbey Gate bombing occurred on August 26, 2021, when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside one of the entry points to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul during the chaotic final days of the U.S. military evacuation from Afghanistan. The blast killed 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians as the United States carried out its withdrawal of troops under then-President Biden.
The 13 troops killed that day are remembered by name each year: Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss.
Trump’s reference to Gold Star families reflects a relationship that dates back to the 2024 campaign, when he met repeatedly with relatives of the fallen troops and used the bombing as a central line of attack against Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris over the withdrawal. He has continued that outreach since taking office. Last year, on the fourth anniversary of the bombing, Trump signed a proclamation in the Oval Office surrounded by Gold Star families, telling them, “There are some great souls that are looking down on you right now, and they’re very proud of their parents, and brothers, and sisters, and moms and dads especially.” He also thanked the media present, saying, “you’ve been very respectful of this group of people, and they deserve it.”
That fourth-anniversary event followed a visit Trump made to Arlington National Cemetery the year before, as a candidate, to mark the third anniversary of the withdrawal — a visit that was later overshadowed by a dispute between Trump campaign staffers and cemetery officials over photography rules at the gravesites. Biden administration officials have long maintained that they inherited an untenable situation in Afghanistan and that Biden made the decision to end a war that previous presidents had allowed to continue for two decades.
Trump’s claim of having “apprehended the evil mastermind” refers to the March 2025 capture of Mohammad Sharifullah, an alleged ISIS-K commander also known as Jafar. Trump announced the arrest during a speech to a joint session of Congress, describing him as the “top terrorist” responsible for the attack that killed the 13 service members. Trump told Congress, “I want to thank especially the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster,” and added that the day was “a very momentous day for those 13 families, who I actually got to know very well, most of them, whose children were murdered.”
According to U.S. officials, Sharifullah was one of two people identified as masterminds of the planning behind the bombing and was described as a regional ISIS-K commander. The CIA had been monitoring him for some time before receiving specific intelligence on his location, which it passed to Pakistani intelligence; an elite Pakistani unit then captured him near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistani officials said he was captured in Balochistan province after multiple earlier attempts to apprehend him had failed.
Court documents later filled in additional detail about Sharifullah’s alleged role. According to an FBI affidavit, Sharifullah admitted under questioning that he had joined ISIS-K in 2016, was imprisoned in Afghanistan from 2019 until roughly two weeks before the bombing, and was then recruited by an ISIS-K member to help carry out the attack, receiving a motorcycle, money for a phone and SIM card, and instructions for communicating over social media during the operation. He also confessed to scouting the attack route and to training gunmen involved in a separate terrorist attack near Moscow.
Sharifullah’s case has not concluded as cleanly as the administration’s public statements have suggested. A federal jury found him guilty of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist group in connection with the bombing but deadlocked on whether he was responsible for any of the deaths in the attack. The White House has continued to refer to him as the “mastermind” of the bombing even after the deadlock, and did not respond to a request for comment on what intelligence, if any, supports that characterization beyond what was presented at trial.
FBI Director Kash Patel has repeatedly cited the case as evidence of his agency’s speed under the current administration. “In two weeks — the first two weeks on the job — Johnny Ratcliffe and I went to the Pakistanis and got the Abbey Gate bomber, who just got convicted last week — in two weeks,” Patel said on a Fox News podcast, adding, “The question the American public should be asking is what was the Biden Administration doing for four years not finding this guy that killed thirteen American soldiers?”
Wednesday’s anniversary drew a broader response across the administration and Capitol Hill. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a Pentagon ceremony honoring the Marines who served during the attack, part of what officials describe as an ongoing review of the incident. The Defense Department earlier this year upgraded the valor awards that were originally given to the service members who responded that day.
Sean Parnell, chairman of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel, delivered his own remarks marking the anniversary, telling the families of the fallen that “what you did there mattered” and that “the way it ended does not erase what you gave,” while honoring the 13 as “the ones who ran toward the danger.”
Parnell also addressed the ongoing review directly, pledging to the Gold Star families that he intended to “finally deliver the truth to them, no matter how long it takes or to whom it will lead.” Commentators following the panel’s work noted that it was authorized by Hegseth last year and has said it uncovered evidence relating to how the Biden administration handled the withdrawal, though full findings have not yet been made public.
House Republicans issued their own statements Wednesday tying the anniversary to broader arguments about military readiness. Rep. Matt Van Epps, R-Tenn., said, “Five years after the tragedy at Abbey Gate, we remember the 13 brave American servicemembers who gave their lives protecting our country and the others who were wounded or forever changed by that day. Their sacrifice demands more than remembrance. It demands that we learn from our failures, continue to restore American deterrence, and ensure our military has the resources, capabilities, and leadership necessary to protect Americans and defeat those who seek to harm us.” Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, said, “Abbey Gate showed the world what American weakness looks like. Thirteen heroes lost their lives because the Biden-Harris administration projected chaos instead of strength, and our adversaries took notice.”
Trump’s Wednesday statement continues a pattern he has followed on each anniversary since retaking office — pairing tribute to the fallen troops and their families with sharp criticism of his predecessor’s withdrawal decisions, and holding up the Sharifullah case as proof that accountability has followed where he says Biden’s administration failed to act. As the review panel’s work continues and the legal proceedings against Sharifullah remain unresolved on the question of responsibility for the deaths, the anniversary is likely to remain a recurring flashpoint in the broader political fight over how the Afghanistan withdrawal is remembered.