The final U.S. navy airplane, a C-17, departed Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport in Afghanistan on Monday evening, August 30, 2021, formally ending the longest conflict in U.S. historical past whereas Taliban fighters celebrated driving out the world’s strongest navy from one of many world’s poorest international locations.
It’s estimated that the U.S. had spent greater than $2 trillion through the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and roughly 800,000 U.S. service women and men served. Greater than 124,00 Afghan and different civilians have been efficiently airlifted through the withdrawal in what would grow to be the most important air evacuation in U.S. historical past.
The Taliban, who ruled the nation below a radical interpretation of Islamic legislation from 1996 to 2001, now management all of Afghanistan. Nonetheless, simply days earlier than, on August 26, 2021, 13 United Acknowledged service members — 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman, and one Army workers sergeant — have been killed in a suicide assault on the Abbey Gate of Kabul’s Karzai Worldwide Airport that additionally claimed greater than 160 Afghan lives. One other 15 U.S. service members and 143 Afghans have been wounded.
In a Patagon investigation launched in February, six months after the botch U.S. withdrawal, discovered {that a} lone Islamic State suicide bomber named as Abdul Rahman Al-Logari carried out the assault. He was an engineering scholar, identified by intelligence businesses, and is alleged to have been let loose of a high-security jail after the Taliban seized management of Kabul on August 15, simply two weeks earlier than the bombing.
In assertion launched on August 31 by Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin, all navy models concerned within the withdrawal and evacuation missions from Afghanistan final 12 months shall be awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation. This is able to additionally embrace models concerned within the resettlement of Afghan allies within the U.S. as a part of Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome.
Beneath are the heroes who died within the line of obligation evacuating hundreds of People and Afghans after the disastrous U.S. withdrawal led to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. In October 2021, the Home of Representatives unanimously permitted posthumous Congressional Gold Medals for all of those companies members who made the final word sacrifice.
Navy Corpsman Maxton “Max” W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio
Soviak was assigned to 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California. A GoFundMe web page began by household good friend Jason Garza had raised greater than $54,000 as of Saturday evening.
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California
Nikoui was stationed Camp Pendleton. Steve Nikoui, Kareem’s father, is important of the execution of the US evacuation.
“I’m actually dissatisfied in the best way that the president has dealt with this, much more so the best way the navy has dealt with it,” the elder Nikoui advised the Every day Beast in an interview. “The commanders on the bottom ought to have acknowledged this menace and addressed it.”
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri
Schmitz was on his first deployment and was despatched to Afghanistan from Jordan.
Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California
Gee, a upkeep technician with the twenty fourth Marine Expeditionary Unit, assisted ladies and ladies at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport as they fled Taliban repression.
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California
Merola arrived in Kabul lower than two weeks earlier than he was killed in Thursday’s assault. A GoFundMe marketing campaign has been organized to help Merola’s household.
Marine Corps Corporal Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana
Indiana Rep. Jim Baird recognized Sanchez in social media posts, writing that the Marine, a 2017 graduate of Logansport Excessive Faculty, “bravely answered the decision to serve his nation.”
Marine Corps Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts
Rosario was a member of the US Marine Corps’ Feminine Engagement Workforce. In Might, she was honored by her unit, the Naval Amphibious Power, Process Power 51/fifth Marine Expeditionary Brigade, for efficiently finishing and submitting the Dormant Accounts Overview Quarterly (DAR-Q) to HQMC in a well timed method that permits the Marine Corps to satisfy the Division of Protection’s objective of passing a full monetary audit.
Marine Corps Employees Sergeant Darin T. Hoover Jr., 31, of Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah
Hoover, of Utah, had been within the Marines for 11 years. He was a former highschool soccer lineman who “lit up a room” when he entered, his father advised The Washington Publish.
Marine Corps Lance Corporal David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas
Espinoza graduated from Lyndon B. Johnson Excessive Faculty in Laredo and lived in Rio Bravo. Espinoza leaves behind a brother, mom and stepfather, News 4 San Antonio reported.
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming
McCollum was anticipating to grow to be a father earlier than deploying to Afghanistan in April. This was his first deployment and manning the test level when the suicide bomb went off.
Army Employees Sergeant Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee
Knauss just lately accomplished Psychology Operations coaching and hoped to maneuver to Washington, DC earlier than being deployed to Afghanistan.
Marine Corps Corporal Daegan W. Web page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska
Web page, joined the Marines out of highschool, served with the 2nd Regiment of the first Marine Regiment, a unit often known as “The Professionals” primarily based at Camp Pendleton, California. He deliberate to go to commerce college and probably grow to be a lineman after his enlistment ended.
Marine Corps Corporal Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California
Lopez, whose dad and mom work on the Riverside County Sheriff’s Division in Southern California, was a sheriff’s Explorer for 3 years earlier than becoming a member of the Marine Corps in September 2017. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. The household requested for all donations to be made to the Riverside County Deputy Sheriff Aid Basis.
A Botch Evacuation
After the suicide bomb assault on the Kabul airport on August 26, Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller launched a now-viral video the place he criticized Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David H. Berger, Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees Gen. Mark Milley for the botch evacuation effort from Kabul.
In his video, Scheller acknowledged that the U.S. ought to by no means have deserted its Bagram airbase and stated that “the infant boomer’s flip is over.”
