Did joe biden kill 13 american marines in afghanistan due to a poorly writeen and executed exit plan
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Executive summary
President Biden presided over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 during which a suicide bombing at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport killed 13 U.S. service members; multiple official reviews and congressional reports place responsibility for planning failures across administrations, not solely on the President [1] [2]. Critics — including House GOP reports and senior retired generals testifying to Congress — say the Biden team inadequately planned and executed the exit and delayed evacuation steps that contributed to a chaotic evacuation environment [3] [4].
1. The central fact: 13 U.S. service members were killed in a terrorist attack, not by friendly action
On August 26, 2021, a suicide-bombing at or near Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport killed 13 U.S. service members — 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman and one soldier — and more than 150 Afghan civilians; Pentagon and medical-investigation accounts attribute those deaths to a single explosive device and shrapnel injuries, not enemy small-arms fire or friendly fire [1] [5] [6].
2. Who is blaming whom: partisan and bipartisan lines of critique
Republican-led committee reports and hearings have squarely faulted the Biden administration for poor planning and execution, saying decisions to withdraw and to delay a formal noncombatant evacuation order left U.S. personnel exposed [3] [7]. House GOP materials explicitly link administration decisions to the unsafe conditions that preceded the Abbey Gate bombing [7] [8].
3. Military leaders’ perspective: warnings and differing accounts
Top military officers who oversaw evacuation operations told lawmakers they had advised retaining a residual force of about 2,500 troops to stabilize Kabul; they said the administration did not approve that larger presence and they criticized the timing of evacuation orders — assessments that place operational blame with civilian decision-makers in the White House and Pentagon [4] [9].
4. The Biden administration’s defense and the Trump-era constraint argument
The administration’s published reviews and supporters note that the 2020 Doha agreement negotiated under President Trump set a withdrawal timeline and constrained options, and that some planning deficiencies preceded the Biden White House; independent analysts such as Brookings and media reporting say the Doha deal limited choices and that responsibility is shared across administrations [2] [10].
5. What investigators and families demand: accountability and reviews
Inspectors general, Congressional committees, and Gold Star families have sought clearer answers and accountability for how the evacuation was managed; families and oversight hearings have repeatedly argued that no sufficient individual or institutional accountability has yet been satisfied in their view [11] [8].
6. What available sources say about causation vs. moral responsibility
Available reporting consistently identifies the direct cause of the deaths as an Islamist militant suicide bombing at the airport [1]. Sources do not present a single definitive legal ruling that President Biden “killed” the 13 marines; instead they present competing narratives: critics argue presidential leadership and planning failures created the conditions that made the attack more likely to succeed, while the administration and some reviewers emphasize limits imposed by prior agreements and operational constraints [3] [2] [10].
7. How journalists and analysts frame the broader judgment
News outlets and think tanks frame the withdrawal as a strategic and political failure with long-term consequences; PBS, The Hill, Brookings and other sources document a debate over where the lion’s share of blame belongs — Trump’s Doha deal, Biden’s execution, military advice, or failures across multiple agencies — which means public attribution remains contested [12] [3] [2].
8. Bottom line for readers: fact, culpability, and nuance
Fact: 13 U.S. service members were killed by a suicide bombing during the chaotic August 2021 evacuation [1] [6]. Attribution: multiple official and media sources place operational and policy failures across administrations and agencies; Republicans and some military leaders sharply criticize Biden’s planning and choices while the administration points to constraints inherited from the prior administration [4] [2] [3]. Sources do not support a simple criminal attribution that President Biden personally “killed 13 marines”; they document a complex mix of strategic decisions, prior agreements, planning shortfalls and a lethal attack that together produced tragedy [1] [7].
Limitations: available sources do not present a court finding or single, uncontested investigative conclusion that pins direct legal culpability on President Biden; they record political, congressional and institutional judgments and competing analyses [2] [3].