13 US troops killed during Afghanistan withdrawal receive Congressional Gold Medals

WASHINGTON - A ceremony on Tuesday posthumously presented Congress' highest honor — the Congressional Gold Medal — to 13 U.S. service members who were killed during the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan.

House Speaker Mike Johnson hosted the ceremony, which began at 11 a.m. ET in the Capitol Rotunda. The top Republican and Democratic leaders for both the House and Senate spoke.

The Congressional Gold Medal is awarded for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals, institutions, or groups. 

The ceremony comes as the politics of a presidential election swirl around the 2021 withdrawal. Here’s what to know:

13 U.S. servicemembers killed during Afghanistan withdrawal 

The 13 U.S. troops were killed along with more than 170 Afghans in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate near Kabul's Airport in August 2021. 

Both Democrats and Republicans supported the legislation to honor the fallen service members, and President Joe Biden signed the legislation in December 2021. 

Tuesday’s ceremony is taking place against the backdrop of a bitter back and forth over who is to blame for the rushed and deadly evacuation from Kabul. Johnson scheduled the ceremony just hours before the first debate between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

Most assessments have concluded Trump and Biden share blame for the disastrous end to America’s longest war, which saw enemy Taliban take over Afghanistan again before the last American troops even flew out of the Kabul airport. 

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) – the main U.S. government watchdog for the war – pointed to Trump’s 2020 deal with the Taliban to withdraw all U.S. forces and military contractors as "the single most important factor" in the collapse of U.S.-allied Afghan security forces and Taliban takeover, followed by Biden’s April 2021 announcement that he would proceed with the withdrawal.

US Afghanistan withdrawal: Politics swirl around blame

On Sunday, House Republicans released a scathing investigation into the withdrawal that cast blame on Biden’s administration and minimized the role of Trump, who had signed the withdrawal deal with the Taliban.

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, praised the recently-published House report that blames Biden's administration and was led by the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Rep. Michael McCaul.

"We must not allow the Biden-Harris Administration to rewrite history," Johnson said in a statement. "The families of the 13 fallen servicemembers and the allies we abandoned in Afghanistan deserve better."

White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Monday criticized the House report as partisan and one-sided, and said it revealed little new information as well as several inaccuracies. He noted that evacuation plans had started well before the pullout and the U.S. did not hand over equipment to the Taliban. He said the fall of Kabul "moved a lot faster than anyone could have anticipated."

He also acknowledged that during the evacuation "not everything went according to plan. Nothing ever does."

"We hold ourselves all accountable for that," he said of the deaths.

Trump has put the Afghan withdrawal, with the backing of some of the families of the Americans killed, into the center of his campaign. Last month, his political team distributed video of him attending a wreath-laying ceremony for the fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery on the third anniversary of the bombing, despite the cemetery’s prohibition on partisan activity on the grounds as well as an altercation with a cemetery employee who was trying to make sure the campaign followed those rules.

The Gold Star military families who invited him to the Arlington ceremony have defended Trump's actions. At a news conference outside the Capitol on Monday, they implored for the House report to be taken seriously and demanded accountability for those in leadership during the evacuation from Kabul.

"President Trump is certainly not perfect. But he’s a far better choice, in my opinion, than the mess that Biden and Harris have created since Kabul," said Paula Knauss Selph, whose son Ryan Knauss died in the Abbey Gate attack.

While Trump and Republicans have sought to link Harris to the withdrawal as a campaign issue, and Harris has said she was the last person in the room when Biden made his decision, neither watchdog reviews nor the 18-month investigation by House Republicans have identified any instance where the vice president had a significant impact on decision-making.

Still, House Republicans argued that Harris, as well as Biden's national security team, needed to face accountability for the consequences of the deadly withdrawal.

"Kamala Harris wants to be the president of the United States. She wants to be commander in chief. She needs to answer for this report immediately," said Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican on the committee.

McCaul, the chairman, also defended the timing of the report by saying that the committee's investigation had to overcome resistance from the Biden administration.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, also issued a memorandum in response to the GOP report, saying he was concerned by the "attempts to politicize the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan."

"Republicans’ partisan attempts to garner headlines rather than acknowledge the full facts and substance of their investigation have only increased with the heat of an election season," Meeks said.

NASA’s 'Hidden Figures' women to receive award this month 

Later this month, Congressional Gold Medals will also be awarded to the NASA mathematicians known as the "Hidden Figures" who played a significant role in astronaut John Glenn’s launch into orbit.

Recipients of the prestigious awards are Katherine Johnson in recognition of her service to the U.S. as a mathematician, Dr. Christine Darden for her service as an aeronautical engineer to the U.S., and Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson in recognition of their service to the nation during the space race. 

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will represent the agency during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at 3 p.m. ET on Sept. 18 at the Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Billie Jean King moves closer to Congressional Gold Medal

Billie Jean King, the tennis Hall of Famer and outspoken activist for women’s equal rights in sports, could also be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal – becoming the first individual female athlete to receive the prestigious award.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey said last week that they have enough votes in the House to grant her the distinguished award. The only step left was to get the bill to the floor for a vote. The companion bill in the Senate passed unanimously.

Lawmakers introduced the bill in September 2023 on the 50th anniversary of King's victory over Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes," still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. That same year, King led the successful push for the U.S. Open to award equal prize money to its men's and women's champions, and the WTA Tour was created.

Baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer are among some of the athlete recipients.