Veterans Day has arrived with the glut of discounts, free meals, and saccharine gratitude that seem inadequate compensation for those who were willing to sacrifice their lives to keep their fellow Americans safe. What our veterans, particularly those who served during our latest, quickly forgotten war in Afghanistan, deserve is a sincere apology from the outgoing commander in chief who oversaw the ignominious end of that conflict and the trauma that resonates from it today.
Starting in the months before our withdrawal and as recently as last week, I have spoken with around a hundred veterans about how they were affected by the collapse of the Afghan government. Some veterans, such as an amputee I spoke with just months before August 2021, were distressed when they saw the Taliban acquire territory they and fellow service members had given much to take and hold. Others, such as Afghanistan War veteran Tom Schueman, were dismayed by the failure to find visa pathways for the interpreters who saved lives in harrowing combat zones.
In the days and months after Aug. 15, 2021, veterans such as Will Selber and Jason Howk, who oversaw the formation of Afghanistan’s military and civil society institutions, told me about their continued dedication to these causes even after witnessing their efforts decimated as the Taliban began pulling the country back into darkness.
Veterans associated with the Operation Allies Refuge Foundation who participated in the withdrawal told me of the moral injury and trauma they faced after experiencing the chaos, death, and devastation of our final weeks in Kabul, Afghanistan. Another group of veterans, some of whom never set foot in Afghanistan, continue to tell me at length about the countless hours, many thousands of dollars, and no small quantity of sanity they have given to supporting allies left behind in Afghanistan who remain under attack for their service to the United States.
None of these veterans came to me because they had a political axe to grind. And yet almost without exception, they told me that they wanted to see President Joe Biden and senior U.S. leaders take accountability for their role in three years of unfolding failures instead of continually foisting that blame elsewhere.
When I asked Afghanistan War veterans last week whether they would be moved by, or even desire, an apology from the president, every response I received was in the affirmative.
Marine Corps veteran Coty Selen served in southern Helmand between 2010 and 2011. Selen told me that, like Vietnam veterans, he feels “like the sacrifices of my friends and our youthful years were for nothing. Something or some sort of acknowledgment from anyone in that administration would be nice.”
Frank Gonzales, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Helmand in 2018, told me that “the military culture taught us owning your mistakes and taking accountability for everything that does or does not happen on your watch.” Gonzales feels that “to not say ‘this was my fault’ when American lives were lost was an insult and dishonored the legacies of the people who paid that price.” In addition, Gonzales said Biden and other officials should “take the burden off” military personnel such as his friend, a commander of Marines during the withdrawal, who “took a lot of blame for something not entirely his fault.”
A naval officer who participated in the withdrawal spoke on the condition of anonymity because she continues to serve on active duty. “The chaotic withdrawal didn’t have to be that way,” she explained. “Nothing will bring back those lives lost, of our American service members and Afghan allies. But it is important to me and many other veterans that there is accountability for such a catastrophic failure.”
Ansel Rubin, a veteran of the Marine Corps who also took part in the withdrawal, told me he does not think Biden “should say a damn word.”
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“He didn’t care when it happened” or “when the caskets were rolling right by his face,” Rubin said. “The only thing I’d personally want to hear out his mouth is that he failed. His military leadership failed.”
With his departure from his office now imminent, Biden has nothing to lose by speaking up about Afghanistan. And for the veterans who continue to feel the burden of responsibility and the weight of anger, Biden’s words could provide an incomparable gift of absolution and gratitude.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into nearly two decades of war and the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.