Former President Joe Biden's record as commander in chief will forever be defined by Aug. 26, 2021.
That was the catastrophic day in the American withdrawal from Afghanistan that Biden declared should be completed by Sept. 11, 2021 -- the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks that had triggered the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
"U.S. troops as well as forces deployed by our NATO Allies and operational partners, will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of that heinous attack on September 11th," Biden said on April 14, 2021.
As American forces prepared to meet Biden's deadline, the Taliban -- that Afghan regime that had provided sanctuary to al-Qaeda before the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- returned to power. According to a timeline published by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Aug. 15, 2021, as Taliban forces entered the capital city of Kabul.
But the greatest catastrophe happened 11 days after that.
"By far the worst security incident occurred on August 26, 2021, when an (Islamic State-Khorasan) suicide bomber detonated explosives in the middle of a crowd gathered in front of the 'Abbey Gate' entrance to (Hamid Karzai International Airport)," said the SIGAR report published on Oct. 30, 2021.
"The attack at HKIA left 13 U.S. service members (11 Marines, one Navy corpsman, and one Army soldier) and approximately 170 Afghans dead, with at least 200 or more wounded, including 18 U.S. service members," said the report. "It was the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan since 2011 and the first U.S. military combat deaths since February 2020."
In the days before and after this terrorist attack, Biden facilitated the movement of Afghan evacuees to the United States through the Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome programs.
A year later, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security issued a report concluding that many of these Afghans were not properly vetted.
"The United States welcomed more than 79,000 Afghan evacuees between July 2021 and January 2022, as part of OAR/OAW," said this report.
"DHS encountered obstacles to screen, vet, and inspect all Afghan evacuees arriving as part of Operation Allies Refuge (OAR)/Operation Allies Welcome (OAW)," it said. "Specifically, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet or inspect the evacuees. We determined some information used to vet the evacuees through U.S. Government databases, such as name, date of birth, identification number, and travel document data, was inaccurate, incomplete, or missing. We also determined CBP admitted or paroled into evacuees who were not fully vetted into the United States."
"As a result," the report concluded, "DHS may have admitted or paroled individuals into the United States who pose a risk to national security and the safety of local communities."
One such individual, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, pleaded guilty this June to "terrorism-related offenses" in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
He had entered the United States just two weeks after the IS-K terrorist attack at the Kabul airport.
"Tawhedi entered the United States on September 9, 2021, on a special immigrant visa and is currently on parole status pending adjudication of his immigration proceedings," said an affidavit that an FBI agent filed in the federal court case.
"Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, a native and citizen of Afghanistan, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Oklahoma City to two terrorism-related offenses: conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and receiving, attempting to receive, and conspiring to receive firearms and ammunition in furtherance of a federal crime of terrorism," said a statement issued by the Justice Department.
Tawhedi himself described his actions in a written statement filed in court as part of the petition entering his guilty plea.
"Between June 2024 and October 7, 2024, I knowingly and voluntarily agreed with at least one other person to provide support to ISIS and attempted to provide support to ISIS," he said. "This was done by offering myself as personnel and purchasing guns and ammunition and attempting to receive them while within the United States for the purpose of carrying out an attack on Election Day."
Tawhedi's colleague in this plot, his brother-in-law Abdullah Haji Zada, was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison. Zada, 19, entered the country before Biden became president, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by the U.S. attorney in his case.
"Mr. Zada, who was 17 years old at the time of his arrest, is a citizen of Afghanistan with legal permanent resident status," said this memorandum.
"He entered the United States on March 27, 2018, on a special immigrant visa," it said.
"Specifically, Mr. Zada worked with Mr. Tawhedi to obtain firearms for use in a thwarted Election Day terrorist attack on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham ('ISIS'), which Mr. Tawhedi has admitted was intended to kill as many people as possible."
The day before Thanksgiving, two members of the National Guard were shot in Washington, D.C. One of them, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died from her wounds.
The alleged shooter -- Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal -- entered the United States, like Tawhedi, the month after the ISIS terror attack at the Kabul airport. "In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation," CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News.
How many more terrorists are among the more than 79,000 Afghans Biden brought into the United States after the Taliban regained control of that country?
That is a question the Biden administration could not answer.
To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.