Story summary
Five years ago, on August 26, 2021, a suicide bomber detonated a vest at the Abbey Gate of Kabul airport in Afghanistan, killing 13 U.S. service members and approximately 160 civilians. The attack was carried out by ISIS-K, and it marked one of the final days of the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Since then, the families of those killed have struggled to cope with their loss. Mark Schmitz, a gold star father, said that "it doesn't get any easier" but rather gets different as time passes. He and his family have channeled their grief into starting a non-profit organization called Freedom 13, which aims to build camps for first responders, veterans, and their families.
Others, like Rep. Rich McCormick, have criticized the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. McCormick, who served in the Marines and Navy for over 20 years, says that the collapse of Afghanistan was a "betrayal" by the administration.
A new documentary, "The Path to Zero," has shed light on the chaotic evacuation efforts, showing footage of Afghan forces turning their guns on civilians and local allies being slaughtered by the Taliban. The film also highlights how Abdul Rahman al-Logari, the ISIS-K member who carried out the Abbey Gate bombing, was released from prison after U.S. troops left Afghanistan.
Rep. Matt Van Epps has questioned why there has been no apology for the Biden administration's role in arming the Taliban and contributing to the chaos that unfolded in Kabul. The U.S. had spent over $2 trillion on the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, resulting in more than 2,400 American lives lost.
Written for “US Withdrawal from Afghanistan” on 2026-08-31,
grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.
Five years ago today, a suicide bomber killed 13 Marines and 170 civilians in an attack on Kabul airport that came to symbolize the chaotic and ill-conceived withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
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that → kill → Afghanistan
But the Abbey Gate bombing was only one part of the heavily flawed August 2021 evacuation.
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bombing → flaw → evacuation
Afghan forces turned their weapons on civilians during the chaos, and local allies who had worked with US forces for decades were left to be slaughtered by the Taliban, according to “The Path to Zero,” a hard-hitting Wall Street Journal documentary out today.
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who → turn → Zero
The feature is bookended by choppy bodycam footage from the terrorist attack — carried out by ISIS-K member Abdul Rahman al-Logari — showing heavily armed US soldiers, many in a state of shock, lying amid rubble at the airport.
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soldiers → bookende → airport
The film condemns the Biden administration for its disastrous end to America’s “forever war” in Afghanistan, then two decades long, pointing out that al-Logari was released from one of the two prisons the Taliban emptied after US troops started to leave the country in disarray in the summer of 2021.
“He [Biden] wanted to say to the American public that he was the president who got us out of Afghanistan, who ended the forever war,” says Paul Gigot, the longtime editor of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page in the movie.
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Gigot → condemn → movie
“[George W.] Bush couldn’t do it.
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Bush → do → it
Obama couldn’t do it.
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Obama → do → it
Trump couldn’t do it.
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Trump → do → it
Biden did it and everybody took their cues from that.”
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everybody → do → that
The documentary, by filmmakers Michael and Thomas Pack of Palladium Pictures, features interviews with the retired Marines, diplomats and others who were eyewitnesses to the hasty pullout and its serious collateral damage — much of which went unnoticed by the wider world, which was focused on the COVID pandemic at the time.
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which → feature → time
As the August 30 deadline for US forces to leave approached, Marines at the airport couldn’t handle the onslaught of desperate civilians.
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Marines → leave → civilians
Special Afghan forces known as Zero Units, trained by the CIA, were called in to help.
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forces → know → CIA
Those inexperienced operatives didn’t know how to handle a crowd and indiscriminately ran over them or shot civilians dead, according to the soldiers who witnessed the carnage.
“They would use vehicles, they would run people over, they would execute people, they’d shoot ’em, shoot into the crowds,” said Joseph Laude, a retired Marine who was at the airport.
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who → know → airport
“[We were] bearing witness to atrocities, to war crimes, and not being able to do anything about it.
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We → bear → it
“That is something someone has to take home and wrestle with when they reflect on their service or their experience… potentially for the rest of their life.”
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they → have → life
The members of the Zero Units were given priority to leave Afghanistan by the US government because of their service in the country, according to the documentary.
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members → give → documentary
US Marines were also traumatized by having to make life and death decisions at the airport, overrun with desperate civilians fleeing the Taliban’s rule.
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Marines → traumatize → rule
The US kept changing the criteria for who it would evacuate and Marines had to determine who had the correct paperwork.
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who → keep → paperwork
Edward Gonzalez, a retired Marine, describes one resident who begged him to allow her into the airport, worried that as an unmarried woman she would be persecuted by the Taliban if returned to Kabul.
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she → describe → Kabul
“She kept begging all night and I couldn’t let her in,” he said.
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he → keep → ?
“And meanwhile there’s thousands of families that got denied and dragged off by the Taliban because they didn’t possess the right paperwork [which would have been accepted] a day and a half, two days later.
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which → ’ → paperwork
Most of the evacuees were young, single men who were able to fight their way through the crowds, the documentary points out.
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documentary → fight → crowds
Some latched on to a C-17 military transport plane as it took off.
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it → latch → plane
Video footage famously captured figures falling from the airplane shortly after takeoff.
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footage → capture → takeoff
A much better option to evacuate US allies would have been using Bagram Air Base, which had been the center of US combat operations since 2001.
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which → evacuate → 2001
But on Biden’s orders, the US had vacated that base in July, a month before the complete withdrawal of troops, leaving hundreds of millions worth of war materiel on the ground to be snapped up by the Taliban.
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US → vacate → Taliban
Biden and his policy advisors, including former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, refused to listen to military chiefs who begged the administration to maintain a residual permanent force of about 2,500 US soldiers to help the Afghan troops who had been fighting against the Taliban for two decades.
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who → include → decades
But Biden was determined to reduce US troops to zero.
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Biden → determine → zero
“We even said these things . . .
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We → say → things
if you pull everything out of Afghanistan, if you pull the contractors out, if you pull the special forces out, if you pull your air assets out and you don’t give us anything, then we will lose,” said General Haibattulah Alizai, the Afghan Army Chief in 2021.
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Alizai → pull → 2021
The situation with regard to women’s rights, it’s a disaster.
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it → ’ → rights
We don’t have any doctors on the ground,” he added.
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he → have → ground
Retired Marine Corps General Kenneth McKenzie agreed.
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McKenzie → agree → ?
“All of this happened because we did not make a decision in April to bring out our embassy, our citizens, and our at-risk Afghans,” he said.
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he → happen → risk
“Let’s be very clear where blame lies for this.
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blame → let → this
It doesn’t lie with the Joint Force.
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It → lie → Force
It doesn’t lie with the military people who are executing this operation.
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who → lie → operation
“It lies with the political leadership that chose to turn a blind eye to the situation in Afghanistan and allow this to boil to a point in August when it became out of control, and was beyond control of any reasonable military capability to impose order on it.”
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it → lie → it
The disorganized US pullout would have dangerous repercussions beyond Afghanistan, and compromise the US’s position around the world.
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pullout → have → world
“This was a major, major mistake,” Gigot said.
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Gigot → say → ?
…and 13 more, not listed.
