Staff Reports
Former President Donald Trump will meet with the families of Gold Star families, who lost loved ones during the US' withdrawal from Afghanistan under Joe Biden. The event will be held on the 2nd anniversary of the last plane leaving the country. Michael Waltz, a Republican congressman from Florida, arranged the meeting after hearing the families' frustrations about how the US government has been lying to them.
Some families don't have photos or phones, and they feel that former President Biden treated them poorly. Waltz reached out to Trump as he believed that the former president would be able to help these families in a positive manner.
Real leadership 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Exclusive — Trump, Waltz to Meet Afghanistan Withdrawal Gold Star Families at Bedminsterhttps://t.co/RKJsLMPbqr
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 30, 2023
In 2024, it will be the first time that a presidential candidate has met with the relatives of those who died in Afghanistan.
Fourteen families will be attending the meeting. Some of them include the relatives of the individuals who died in a bombing that occurred at the Hamid International Airport in 2021. A campaign official for Trump noted that the president's meeting with the families was not only about honoring the troops, but also about contrasting Biden's lack of appreciation for them with his record on the war.
Since the deaths of their loved ones happened under Biden's watch, the families have been holding public hearings and appearing in various events to express their anger. They want the US government to come clean about what happened.
The meeting between Trump and the families of the soldiers who died in Afghanistan was arranged two years after the country's withdrawal. Trump has been critical of the way the US conducted its withdrawal, and he believes it should have been handled differently. Waltz noted that the president's meeting with the families could be a way to show that he is competent compared to Biden's incompetence.
The 2024 presidential election is seen as a referendum on the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. If Trump is elected, he can order the release of more details about the operation, while Biden would likely continue to hide the truth if he wins again. Waltz believes that by electing Trump, the families affected by the failed withdrawal can finally get closure.
