Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has blamed Vice President Kamala Harris for the deaths of 13 U.S. service personnel during the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021.
Vance’s remarks came in response to recent comments from Harris’s campaign criticizing former President Donald Trump for attending a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the fallen soldiers.
“To have those 13 Americans lose their lives and not fire a single person is disgraceful. Kamala Harris is disgraceful,” Vance said during the rally held in Erie, Pennsylvania, in what was his first visit as the Republican vice presidential nominee to the city on the Keystone State.
Vance further accused Harris of being “asleep at the wheel” for failing to investigate the events surrounding the deadly attack at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
“But she wants to yell at Donald Trump for showing up. She can go to hell,” Vance added, igniting loud applause from the audience.
Former President Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly criticized Kamala Harris over Afghanistan since she became the Democratic nominee. The Trump campaign has attempted to shift focus from President Joe Biden to Harris by highlighting an April 2021 CNN interview where she stated that she was the last person in the room when Biden decided to exit Afghanistan and expressed her comfort with the decision.
At a separate event on Monday, Trump attended a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the attack, where he blamed Biden and Harris for the incident.
“Caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the humiliation in Afghanistan set off the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world,” Trump said to an audience of National Guard members and their families.
Harris’s campaign has defended her role, emphasizing that the decision was necessary to end a prolonged conflict that had cost thousands of American lives. In a statement commemorating the anniversary of the Kabul attack, Harris expressed sorrow for the lives lost and reiterated that ending the war was the right choice.
“As I have said, President Biden made the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war,” Harris stated. “My prayers are with their families and loved ones. My heart breaks for their pain and their loss.”
The U.S. pullout from Afghanistan has become a central battleground for Republicans. At the Republican National Convention (RNC) in July, the Trump campaign invited the families of soldiers who died in the Kabul bombing. On stage, they harshly criticized the Biden administration for its handling of the withdrawal and accused Harris of failing to hold anyone accountable.
Since then, Republicans and Democrats have been pointing fingers at each other over which administration is responsible for the messy withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of military involvement.
While the withdrawal was completed under Biden, the Trump administration brokered a deal with the Taliban in 2020 to leave the country. After the majority of American forces departed under Biden, the U.S.-backed Afghan government and military quickly collapsed in the face of a Taliban assault.
