The 20th anniversary of 9/11 coincided with the end of the war that began as a result of the actions of the 19 al Qaeda terrorists, and the two have evoked an outpouring of emotions for veterans who served during the War in Afghanistan.
President Joe Biden pulled all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan at the end of August, but the chaotic withdrawal, which included leaving hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan allies behind, left troops questioning whether their sacrifices were in vain.
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The grief and frustration with the execution of the Afghan exit was a common theme among the veterans who spoke with the Washington Examiner regarding their feelings about the 20th anniversary.
Jake Bequette served in the Army in Iraq, deciding to enlist following the events on Sept. 11, 2001, in which nearly 3,000 people died. He said it was “difficult, painful, and infuriating to watch the absolute debacle in Afghanistan” in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
The former NFL player, who is now running for Senate as a Republican in Arkansas, said it’s “painful” to see “how weak this current administration is.”
“Their fecklessness that incompetence led directly to the collapse and humiliation of the Taliban retaking the country,” he said.
Similarly, Bobby Goodman, a fourth-generation Marine, said he “never thought that I would actually dread the day again,” adding that the anniversary “is going to be brutal,” while fellow Marine A.J. Watkins said the timing of the anniversary and the end of the war aren’t bringing him any “good emotions.”
“Obviously, I’m not very happy with how things ended,” Watkins said. “I do believe we needed to get out of Afghanistan because there’s no way in hell the politicians were gonna let us do anything that would allow us to win that war, but just the whole way we got out was a complete s***show and absolute clusterf***.”
Watkins also brought up the lives of the 13 service members who were killed in late August when a suicide bomber affiliated with the Islamic State detonated a device outside the gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, as American and coalition forces were evacuating third-country nationals and Afghan allies who would be at risk under the newly implemented Taliban regime.
“I mean, it’s just very, very bittersweet thing,” he said. “Like, you know, had we evacuated Afghanistan like we should have, it wouldn’t be that as it is. But the fact that we left thousands of Americans behind, we lost 11 Marines, one soldier, one corpsman, and well, I mean, honestly, it was what was completely avoidable, and, honestly, I mean, it just makes the whole situation a lot worse.”
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Many of the service members who died in the airport bombing were in their early 20s, meaning they grew up in the post-9/11 era with a war overseas.
Watkins, in reflecting on his time spent abroad, said the military did important work, but it “almost doesn’t feel worth it at the end.”
