US military families ‘appalled’ by Arlington controversy, accuse Kamala Harris of ‘twisting’ Donald Trump’s visit as ‘political ploy’
The fallout from Donald Trump’s visit to a hallowed military cemetery keeps growing, with veterans’ families now wading in.
The controversy sparked by former US president Donald Trump’s trip to the hallowed Arlington Cemetery, which houses the graves of hundreds of thousands of American military personnel, has continued into a second week.
Mr Trump visited Arlington last Monday alongside the families of 13 fallen US servicemen and women, who died in a suicide bombing during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
The Republican presidential nominee’s campaign staff clashed with a cemetery worker, who tried to stop them from filming in the restricted area called Section 60.
Under federal law, photography and filming in that section of the cemetery, which is largely reserved for deceased soldiers from the recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is strictly limited.
“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of, a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” Arlington said in a statement after the incident.
The Trump campaign has been accused of using the cemetery for a political stunt, a charge it has answered by stressing that Mr Trump had been invited by fallen soldiers’ families.
During his visit, he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and later posed for photos with some family members next to their relatives’ gravestones.
The campaign later posted footage of him laying flowers in the restricted area.
‘Twisting this moment’: Soldiers’ families defend Trump
After the furore erupted, the Trump campaign labelled the worker who had tried to stop it from filming in Section 60 “mentally ill” and “a disgrace”, prompting a rare intervention from the army itself.
“Participants in the August 26 ceremony, and the subsequent Section 60 visit, were made aware of federal laws, army regulations and Department of Defence policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds,” it said in a statement.
“An employee who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside. Consistent with the decorum expected at Arlington, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption.
“This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the Arlington employee and her professionalism have been unfairly attacked.
“Arlington is a national shrine to the honoured dead of the armed forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve.”
On Saturday Mr Trump’s election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, accused him of “disrespecting sacred ground” for “the sake of a political stunt”.
He responded by sharing messages of support from eight of the families on his social media platform, Truth Social, some of whom also criticised Ms Harris.
“Why did we want Trump there? It wasn’t to help his political campaign,” said one such family member, Mark Schmitz, who lost his son, Marine Lance Corporal Jared Shmitz.
“We wanted a leader. That explains why you and Joe (Biden) didn’t get a call.”
In a joint statement, some of the families said they were “appalled by Kamala Harris’s recent attempts to politicise President Trump’s visit”, and accused her of “disgracefully twisting this sacred moment into a political ploy”.
“Vice President Harris bears responsibility for the deaths of our sons and daughters. Her administration’s catastrophic mishandling of the Afghanistan withdrawal led to the murder of 13 servicemembers, including our children.”
The group claimed Ms Harris had ignored “multiple requests for a meeting to discuss the deaths of our loved ones”, and had shown “a complete lack of empathy”.
They said they had “no doubt” their loved ones would still be alive if Mr Trump had remained president.
‘Your request, not mine’: Trump himself responds
On Sunday, Mr Trump himself hit back.
“I want to thank the families of our Great Warriors who have been lost to us for the way they came together as one, and thanked me for attending, at their request, the Celebration of their wonderful family members who, because of the Incompetence of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, are no longer with us,” he wrote.
“Thank you for saying you wanted me to stand with you at Arlington National Ceremony (sic), and take pictures, that it was your request, not mine, but it was my Great Honour to do so. I WILL NEVER FORGET!
“Lightweight VP Kamala Harris tried turning it around, because they weren’t there, have never spoken to the families, and have no intention to do so.
“In Afghanistan, you don’t take the Soldiers out first, you take the Soldiers out last. This would be Military 101, the most basic, and the “leaders” of that Disaster should be fired. We have FOOLS in the White House.”
Speaking to NBC News, Republican Senator Tom Cotton said the families’ children “died because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s incompetence”.
“You know who the families also invited (to Arlington)? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Where were they? Joe Biden was at a beach. Kamala Harris was sitting at her mansion in Washington DC.”
Officials from the White House and Harris campaign say Mr Biden and Ms Harris were not, in fact, invited to the event.
The catastrophic withdrawal
The chaotic withdrawal of US forces, and those of its coalition allies, from Afghanistan in 2021 ended with the Taliban swiftly retaking control of the country. It has now clamped down once again on Afghans’ human rights, undoing years of progress made during the war.
The Taliban’s advance, and the collapse of the existing Afghan government, were so quick that allied forces were still trying to evacuate as militants swept into the capital, Kabul. There were harrowing scenes at the airport as desperate locals, many of whom had helped the allied forces, tried to secure passage out of the country.
Thirteen US servicemen and women were killed – those represented by the families at the event in Arlington last week.
Political candidates on both sides had long promised to bring an end to America’s involvement in Afghanistan.
In February of 2020, the Trump administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban, committing to the removal of “all military forces of the United States, its allies and coalition partners” by May 1, 2021.
The deal sparked tensions with the Afghan government, which had not been included in the negotiations and objected to Mr Trump’s pledge that 5000 Taliban prisoners would be freed.
It also meant the US would no longer support Afghan forces in offensive operations, causing them to adopt a more defensive posture against the Taliban.
There were about 13,000 US troops in Afghanistan in early 2020. Mr Trump later ordered an accelerated drawdown, which saw just 2500 personnel left, across both Afghanistan and Iraq, by January 15, 2021 – less than a week before he left office.
After becoming president, Mr Biden decided the May 1 deadline for American forces’ withdrawal was approaching too soon, and announced an extension to the timetable of more than four months.
Even with that extension, the US withdrawal ended up being badly rushed. The Taliban launched a major offensive at the beginning of May, and swiftly gained ground across the country, taking control of multiple provincial capitals. More than half of them were under Taliban rule before the end of July.
Mr Biden still expressed trust in “the capacity of the Afghan military” to hold out, claiming it was “better trained” and “better equipped” than the Taliban militants.
That proved to be misguided. The Afghan military was overwhelmed to such an extent that Kabul itself fell by mid-August, before the allied withdrawal was complete.
On August 26, four days before the last American plane left, a suicide bombing claimed the lives of those 13 US military personnel. It also killed 170 Afghans.
The servicemembers’ families demanded accountability in the wake of the tragedy. They’re still waiting for it.
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