The 13 U.S. service members killed three years ago during the military withdrawal from Afghanistan were formally awarded Congress' highest honor Tuesday in a rare bipartisan commemoration of an incident that has become a political football.
Surviving family members of the Abbey Gate suicide bombing victims accepted the Congressional Gold Medal as their loved ones' names were read, one by one, in a solemn ceremony in the Capitol rotunda attended by congressional leaders from both parties.
"The blank check they signed when they enlisted was cashed in full," Coral Doolittle, mother of Marine Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, said in a speech at the ceremony in which she occasionally had to pause to fight back tears.
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"As Gold Star parents, our grief never truly ends," she added. "It changes, it transforms, but remains with us always. A big part of us died with our children on Aug. 26, 2021. But we want everybody to know that ceremonies like this provide a small but meaningful breath of relief in our ongoing journey of grief, reminding us that we raised the best and brightest for this country."
As the U.S. military was scrambling to evacuate American citizens and vulnerable Afghans after the Taliban overran Kabul amid the withdrawal from Afghanistan, an ISIS suicide bomber detonated outside the main gate of the airport where the evacuation was happening.
The attack killed Sanchez as well as Navy Corpsman Maxton Soviak, Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, and Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui; Lance Cpl. David Espinoza; Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum; Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz; Cpl. Hunter Lopez; Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover; Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page; Sgt. Nicole Gee; Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola; and Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo.
Lawmakers unanimously approved posthumously awarding the fallen service members the Congressional Gold Medal in fall 2021 shortly after the attack. It is unclear why three years passed between Congress approving the medals and the actual awarding of them.
In the intervening years, the attack and the withdrawal have become a political cudgel for Republicans.
While Monday's ceremony was largely free of politics, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., took a veiled dig at the Biden administration as he opened the event, which he scheduled hours before the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
"To the families who are here, I know many of you have yet to hear these words, so I will say them: We are sorry," Johnson said. "The United States government should have done everything to protect our troops. Those fallen and wounded at Abbey Gate deserve their best efforts, and the families who have been left to pick up the pieces continue to deserve transparency and appreciation and recognition."
House Republicans released a report about the withdrawal Monday that was sharply critical of the Biden administration, accusing officials of ignoring military warnings about the dire situation on the ground.
Trump, who cut a deal with the Taliban that set the withdrawal in motion, has also sought to cast himself as a champion for the Abbey Gate victims. At the invitation of two victims' families, he visited Arlington National Cemetery on the three-year anniversary of the attack last month, a visit that became a political lightning rod when the Army accused two of his campaign staffers of getting into an altercation with an official who tried to enforce laws against politicking on cemetery property.
Several family members of the Abbey Gate victims have endorsed Trump, and in a news conference Monday outside the Capitol, were sharply critical of the Biden administration.
"We have been in a downward spiral since the Biden-Harris administration took office," Paula Knauss Selph, mother of Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, said at the news conference. "We have to stand on values that make this nation great again. President Trump is certainly not perfect. But he's a far better choice, in my opinion, than the mess that Biden and Harris have created since Kabul."
Still, Republicans and Democrats came together Tuesday to honor the victims of the Abbey Gate attack.
"Today and every day, we mourn with you as you continue to grieve your unfathomable loss," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said at the ceremony. "No honor can truly repay the incredible sacrifice made by our fallen. To the families here, this Congressional Gold Medal also represents our ironclad promise to you: We have not forgotten your pain, we will never forget the ultimate sacrifice your loved ones have made, and our gratitude will be eternal."
Related: Senate Approves Congressional Gold Medals for Troops Killed in Kabul Airport Attack
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