It’s been five years since Abbey Gate. Five years since the chaos inflicted by the Biden Administration led to a bombing that injured hundreds and killed 13 American soldiers.

We knew then that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an epic awful cluster F**K. We knew then that the arbitrary decision made by politicians such as Anthony Blinken, John Kirby, and Jake Sullivan, along with Joe Biden to abruptly close Bagram Airfield and leave MILLIONS in equipment behind was a bad decision. A decision that had absolutely NOTHING to do with President Trump’s original withdrawal plan and everyone in DC knows that. 

Now, on this 5th Anniversary, parents of the soldiers we lost, and some of the wounded are at the bomber’s trial. 

In the moments she last saw her friend alive, Marine Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart was helping an Afghan woman and her two toddler sons leave the Kabul airport.

It was Aug. 26, 2021, and thousands of desperate locals were trying to flee Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul, prompted by the White House’s decision to withdraw from the United States’ longest war. Lainhart and Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, bunkmates and confidantes, were tasked with searching women and children at the airport — and occasionally carrying out the difficult task of turning away those without proper paperwork.

The woman and small boys were among those barred from entry, so Lainhart escorted them back across the canal from which they’d come.

As Cpl. Lainhart testified, she initially thought Nicole had been knocked unconscious. It was until she later woke up in the hospital, that she not only found out she was paralyzed for the rest of her life, but that Sgt. Nicole Gee had been killed. All because of at least one terrorist emboldened by the Biden Administration’s incompetence was able to set off a bomb. 

As others have testified, the information coming from the DOD and especially the State Department changed multiple times a day. People not allowed to leave one day, were given permission two days later. Except that some of the people originally barred from leaving were captured or detained by the Taliban, never to be seen again. 

New information has emerged about how chaotic the entire withdrawal was, and it’s even worse than we thought. The Wall Street Journal ran a detailed investigation and ended up putting together a documentary called The Path To Zero. 

Through candid interviews with the diplomats, generals and soldiers who were there, the film tells the riveting story of the unfolding tragedy—and gives voice to the moral injury many young Marines who manned the gates still carry from what they witnessed and the choices they had to make.

The documentary is just under an hour, and it points an unflinching finger at how badly the Biden Administration handled the withdrawal. 

Afghan forces turned their weapons on civilians during the chaos, and local allies who had worked with US forces for decades were left to be slaughtered by the Taliban, according to “The Path to Zero,” a hard-hitting Wall Street Journal documentary out today.

~Snip

As the August 30 deadline for US forces to leave approached, Marines at the airport couldn’t handle the onslaught of desperate civilians. Special Afghan forces known as Zero Units, trained by the CIA, were called in to help.

Those inexperienced operatives didn’t know how to handle a crowd and indiscriminately ran over them or shot civilians dead, according to the soldiers who witnessed the carnage.

“They would use vehicles, they would run people over, they would execute people, they’d shoot ’em, shoot into the crowds,” said Joseph Laude, a retired Marine who was at the airport. “[We were] bearing witness to atrocities, to war crimes, and not being able to do anything about it.

~Snip

The members of the Zero Units were given priority to leave Afghanistan by the US government because of their service in the country, according to the documentary.

US Marines were also traumatized by having to make life and death decisions at the airport, overrun with desperate civilians fleeing the Taliban’s rule.

The US kept changing the criteria for who it would evacuate and Marines had to determine who had the correct paperwork.

That is just SOME of the information contained in this documentary. As it turns out, Blinken and Sullivan along with other “political” advisors ignored real information and strategy from the military. Joe wanted his damned win. He wanted to be the one to brag that he shut down the war. Yes, he wanted bragging rights over Obama and President Bush. 

That desire for bragging rights led to the Taliban retaking Afghanistan. Millions of dollars of military equipment left behind for the terrorists to loot, and 13 U.S. soldiers murdered in a bomb blast at Abbey Gate. 

Congressman Matt Van Eps, himself a veteran who was deployed in Afghanistan nails it. The Biden Administration was far more concerned with optics than about operations. And it showed. 

As our Nation marks five years since the attack at Abbey Gate, we honor the memory of the thirteen service members who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Their memory will forever live in the heart of a grateful nation. pic.twitter.com/UH1XoDBTO9

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) August 26, 2026

Now we find out from Sean Parnell, that documents containing critical information has been uncovered and once thoroughly reviewed, the findings will be shared with the families of the fallen. 

An update from Sean Parnell, Chairman of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel, on the Fifth Anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing pic.twitter.com/5pkbmuuyX0

— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) August 26, 2026

The documentary isn’t easy to watch, but it is very important that we do. 

Soldiers are now dealing with life-long injuries and thirteen families will forever have one empty seat at their tables. 

5 years ago today.

To the Loved and the Lost at Abbey Gate

Five years ago, you were sent into chaos at the end of a war that had forgotten how to end with honor. At a narrow gate in Kabul, you watch anyway.

You gave what was most sacred to a cause that, in the end, refused to… pic.twitter.com/p7Bot1QEHy

— InfantryDort (@infantrydort) August 26, 2026

SAY THEIR NAMES. REMEMBER THEM. HONOR THEM. 

Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Darin T. Hoover
Marine Corps Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo
Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole L. Gee
Marine Corps Corporal Hunter Lopez
Marine Corps Corporal Daegan W. Page
Marine Corps Corporal Humberto A. Sanchez
Marine Corps Lance Corporal David L. Espinoza
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jared M. Schmitz
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Dylan R. Merola
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Kareem M. Nikoui
Army Staff Sergeant Ryan C. Knauss
Navy Hospital Corpsman Third Class Maxton W. Soviak

Feature Photo Credit: Original artwork by victory Girls Darleen Click