Joe Biden pays respects to US troops killed in Afghanistan

President Joe Biden met in solemn privacy Sunday with the families of the 13 US troops killed in the suicide attack near the Kabul airport as the remains of their loved ones returned to US soil from AfghanistanBiden and first lady Jill Biden were also to attend the ldquodignified transferrdquo of the fallen troops while at Dover Air Force Base a military ritual of receiving the remains of those killed in foreign combatThe dead ranged in age from 20 to 31 and came from California and Massachusetts and states in betweenThey include a 20yearold Marine from Wyoming who had been expecting his first child in three weeks and a 22yearold Navy corpsman who in his last FaceTime conversation with his mother assured her that he would stay safe because ldquomy guys got merdquoFive were just 20 born not long before the attacks of Sept 11 2001 that spurred the United States to invade Afghanistan in order to topple alQaida and dismantle their Taliban hosts who ruled the countryAt their deaths the 13 young service members were on the ground for the US coda to its longest war assisting a chaotic evacuation of Americans and of Afghans who helped the US war effort and are now fleeing the Taliban after their return to powerAlso ReadWe will hunt you down and make you pay Biden warns Kabul airport attackersldquoThe 13 service members that we lost were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our highest American ideals and while saving the lives of othersrdquo Biden said in a statement Saturday ldquoTheir bravery and selflessness has enabled more than 117000 people at risk to reach safety thus farrdquoFamily members of the fallen often travel to Dover to be present as flagdraped transfer cases are taken off the transport plane that returns them to American soilAside from the quiet commands of honour guards who carry the transfer cases the short prayers of the chaplain typically are the only words spoken during the ritualBidens three most recent predecessors as presidents all attended dignified transfers for troops killed in the nearly 20year Afghanistan war It will be the Bidens first time attending the ritual as president but he has been here beforeBiden attended a dignified transfer for two US soldiers killed in a suicide blast at Bagram Airfield in the final months of his vice presidency in 2016 In 2008 while a senator and at the request of the grieving family he attended one for a soldier killed in a car bombing in IraqBiden told CBS ldquoFace the Nationrdquo that he had to get permission from the Pentagon to attend the transferThe 13 troops who died in Kabul were the first US service members killed in Afghanistan since February 2020 That was when the Trump administration reached an agreement with the Taliban that called for the militant group to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for a US commitment to remove all American troops and contractors by May 2021Biden announced in April that he would have all forces out by SeptemberEleven of the 13 Americans killed were Marines One was a Navy sailor and one an Army soldierThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever