ABBEY GATE: What A Difference A Change In President Can Make

It’s hard to believe how time has flown by already, but at this same point in Biden’s Presidency, Kabul was re-enacting the Fall of Saigon as a direct consequence of following Biden’s withdrawal policies.

Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. Jihadis held parades featuring American equipment as trophies of war. American arms and munitions found their way to the black market. We lost a Billion dollar air base and a footprint an hour from China’s border.

But none of those were as significant as the weakness we telegraphed to our enemies.

We are on the brink of September. Four years ago (was it only that long?) Joe Biden was hellbent on getting American troops home from Afghanistan in time for him to take a victory lap on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

The horrific and arbitrary decisions in Biden’s draw-down instructions led to the abandoning of our defensible base, the freeing of prisoners, the loss of our gear, and had a direct cause-and-effect link to the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate that took the lives of 13 American service men and women, left others critically wounded, besides the many innocent Afghani civilians who were maimed and killed in the same blast.

We saw the chaos and disorder as we abandoned Kabul, near the end of Biden’s lifetime of public service with such vivid echos of the chaos and disorder of a similar scene at the beginning of Biden’s lifetime of public service, when the last helicopter fled Saigon.

Biden’s spokesmen swore they would bring those responsible ‘to justice’, and proceeded to drone strike an innocent family, while assuring America it was a ‘righteous strike’.

When the caskets of the unfortunates that were killed as the last American casualties in Afghanistan were brought home, he further offended the grieving parents by checking his watch during the dignified transfer ceremony.

Biden, who boasted about his deep and abiding love of the military carefully avoided speaking of Abbey Gate or the people whose lives were lost there on all but the most unavoidable circumstances, like anniversaries of the day. Even then, it was an oblique reference to a ‘terrorist attack’.

It was as if their lives never mattered, their sacrifice never actually given.

When Gold Star father Steve Nikoui sat in Biden’s final SOTU speech, he interrupted the speech invoking Abbey Gate. The Hill reported on how he was rewarded for his devotion to his son’s memory by the Capitol Police.

Following Nikoui’s arrest, Mast called out Biden.

“He was arrested because he cried out to Joe Biden to remember his son,” Mast wrote. “Joe Biden has never honored those killed at the Abby Gate and still hails the catastrophic withdrawal as a success!” — The Hill

Charges were dropped, but not until the public shamed them into it.

Then came an election and a new president, with a very different attitude.

The thirteen souls whose remains came back in flag-draped caskets were formally recognized with a formal presidential proclamation that declared August 26th as a day of commemoration of the 4th anniversary of that attack.

He did more than that. He invited the grieving families who had been pushed to the sidelines to come and spend the day at the White House in honor of the sacrifice made by their loved ones.

The White House posted this on their X account:

Fourth Anniversary of the Attack at Abbey Gate

"This is a very special group of people… Abbey Gate. It's the four-year anniversary, so we're signing a proclamation honoring them and honoring you and your loved one." – President Donald J. Trump ❤️ pic.twitter.com/8cMOCMKA6d

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 26, 2025