House and Senate leaders on Tuesday commemorated 13 U.S. servicemembers killed by a suicide bomber three years ago at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan, pausing for an hour the ongoing partisan blame-casting over the attack.
The four leaders headlined the solemn ceremony in a packed Capitol Rotunda at which the sacrifice of each of the fallen servicemembers was memorialized with Congress’ highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal.
The ceremony occurred amid a presidential election campaign in which the oversight of extracting U.S. troops from Afghanistan, not just in 2021 but also in the years leading up to it, has drawn intense scrutiny. The matter may arise Tuesday evening when former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris face off in a televised debate.
