Mark Schmitz, Gold Star father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, told Newsmax on Monday that the abandonment of an Afghanistan air base by the United States during the 2021 withdrawal directly led to the suicide bombing at a Kabul airport that killed 170 people, including more than a dozen U.S. service members.
Schmitz, in an interview with “National Report,” ripped former President Joe Biden for the attack that killed his son during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 while assisting with the evacuations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
“First off, that was the biggest mistake Biden made was to abandon” Bagram Air Base, the military air base formerly controlled by the United States located about 25 miles north of Kabul.
“Ultimately, the suicide bomber that detonated the bomb that killed my son, along with 12 other service members, was jailed at that Air Force base. And once we slipped out in the middle of the night and left it abandoned, he eventually made his way to Kabul to complete his mission, his task, so I fault Biden certainly for that.”
Schmitz added, “It’s crucial that we get back into Bagram,” as President Donald Trump recently suggested.
“But being a gold star father, I don’t want to see any more bloodshed,” he added. “So if this can’t be handled diplomatically, I’m not sure how he’s planning on doing it.”
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