On 4th Anniversary of Afghan Attack, Trump Honors Soldiers Lost in US Withdrawal

A suicide bomb at Abbey Gate near Kabul in 2021 killed 13 and injured 32. ‘We call it a big lesson, it won’t happen again,’ said the president.

U.S. President Donald Trump signs a proclamation on the fourth anniversary of the "Abbey Gate" terrorist attack, as he is joined by family members of victims, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025. On August 26, 2021, ISIS-K carried out a terrorist attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing 13 U.S. service members and approximately 170 Afghan civilians as they attempted to evacuate the country. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump welcomed Gold Star family members into the Oval Office on Aug. 25 for a signing ceremony as he issued a proclamation honoring the lives lost four years ago as the United States withdrew its military from Afghanistan.

“This is a very special group of people. I’ve been with them from the beginning, Trump said during the event.