Five years after the deadly Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul, the political debate over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has returned to the national spotlight, with Army veteran and Tennessee Republican Rep. Matt Van Epps accusing the Biden-Harris administration of a profound failure in planning and execution.
Van Epps introduced a House resolution marking the fifth anniversary of the Aug. 26, 2021, attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport. The bombing occurred during the final, chaotic days of the American evacuation from Afghanistan and killed 13 U.S. service members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians.
Van Epps calls withdrawal an “abject failure”
Van Epps, a former Army aviator who served 10 years on active duty with deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan, said the anniversary should serve two purposes: remembering the Americans who died and examining the decisions that led to the evacuation crisis.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Van Epps argued that the Biden-Harris administration had not been adequately held responsible for what he described as an unnecessarily chaotic withdrawal.
He characterized the administration's handling of the Afghanistan exit as an “abject failure” and said the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal remain important for Americans to remember.
Van Epps said his criticism is also personal. Two close friends were in Kabul during the evacuation, and he praised their actions while arguing that U.S. troops should never have been placed in such circumstances in the first place.
What happened at Abbey Gate?
The Abbey Gate bombing took place as thousands of Afghans gathered outside the airport hoping to escape the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan.
An ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the crowd near the airport's Abbey Gate. The Pentagon's investigation determined that a single explosive device caused the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians. Eleven of the Americans killed were Marines, along with one soldier and one sailor.
The attack became one of the most painful symbols of the final stage of America's nearly two-decade military involvement in Afghanistan.
The United States was attempting to evacuate American citizens and vulnerable Afghans while the Taliban rapidly consolidated control across the country. The evacuation ultimately transported more than 100,000 people out of Afghanistan, but the operation was accompanied by scenes of severe disorder and mounting security threats.
Military reviews dispute some claims about the bombing
The circumstances surrounding the attack have continued to receive scrutiny.
A supplemental U.S. military review released in 2024 reaffirmed the original conclusion that the Abbey Gate attack could not have been prevented at the tactical level. Investigators identified the bomber as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an ISIS-K member. The review concluded that the attack was carried out by a lone suicide bomber.
That finding is significant because some accounts had alleged that troops had identified the eventual bomber before the explosion and could have stopped him. The supplemental review rejected that conclusion, saying the available evidence did not establish that the person previously observed by troops was al-Logari.
The military investigation therefore distinguished between questions surrounding the broader withdrawal and the specific tactical circumstances of the bombing itself.
The larger political dispute
Van Epps' criticism focuses primarily on the broader withdrawal rather than claiming that American troops at Abbey Gate could have prevented the bombing.
He argued that the Biden administration inherited a withdrawal framework from the Trump administration's 2020 Doha agreement with the Taliban. Van Epps said the agreement contained conditions and accountability measures that could have been enforced, but he believes the Biden team failed to adequately use them.
Democrats and Biden's defenders have offered a different interpretation. They have argued that Biden was implementing a withdrawal process that had been negotiated during Trump's presidency and that the deteriorating situation was influenced by decisions made across both administrations.
A 2022 U.S. government review also found that decisions made under both Trump and Biden contributed to the circumstances surrounding the rapid collapse of Afghanistan, complicating efforts to assign responsibility to only one administration.
Accountability remains a central issue
The political argument has persisted because the consequences of the withdrawal extended beyond the airport bombing.
The Taliban's takeover ended the U.S.-backed Afghan government and dramatically changed Afghanistan's political and security landscape. For veterans, lawmakers and families of those killed, questions remain about whether the withdrawal could have been conducted in a safer and more orderly manner.
The Pentagon has also continued examining the broader circumstances of the withdrawal. In 2025, then-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a special review intended to examine the decisions surrounding the operation and pursue greater accountability.
That effort reflects the continuing sensitivity surrounding the final days of the Afghanistan war.
Remembering the 13 Americans
For Van Epps, however, the fifth anniversary is ultimately about the service members who died.
The 13 Americans killed at Abbey Gate were serving during an evacuation mission under extraordinarily difficult conditions. The Pentagon has repeatedly emphasized their role in helping evacuate Americans and vulnerable Afghans.
The Defense Department has described the 13 as heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice while assisting people attempting to flee Afghanistan.
Five years later, the Abbey Gate bombing remains both a solemn military anniversary and a political flashpoint. Van Epps' resolution has placed renewed attention on the decisions surrounding the withdrawal, while military investigations have continued to clarify what happened in the final moments before the attack.
The enduring debate illustrates the difference between two questions: what happened tactically at Abbey Gate, and whether the broader withdrawal was planned and executed properly.
For the families of the fallen, those distinctions do not erase the loss. For lawmakers such as Van Epps, remembering the 13 Americans also means demanding answers about the decisions that put them in harm's way.
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