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Five years after the deadly explosion at Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan, Fox Nation takes an exclusive look at the harrowing incident and the ramifications it had on the U.S. military and American foreign policy.
“Ambush at Abbey Gate: The Afghanistan Withdrawal,” a new 40-minute documentary, aims to uncover the mistakes made that led to the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, a major entrance to Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who lost his right and left leg in the explosion, spoke out about the terrifying experience with the show’s host, Joey Jones.
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“Staff Sergeant Darren ‘Taylor’ Hoover was killed next to me,” he said. “My whole abdomen, you know, had been ripped open. I took 150 ball bearings into my body, lost my left kidney. I lost 157 centimeters, large and small intestine.”
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Kelsee Lainhart was also hurt in the surprise attack, describing the ordeal as damaging several different parts of her body.
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“Different shrapnel and ball bearings hit me in the blast,” she said. “I have a ball bearing in my skull, a few other parts of my body, and then the shrapnel hit my vertebrae.”
The incident killed 11 Marines, one sailor and one soldier on that fateful day in August 2021. Among the dead were 45 injured American service members, many with severe injuries. More than 160 Afghan civilians were also killed in the blast.
‘The Ambush at Abbey Gate: The Afghanistan Withdrawal’ explores then lives of U.S. service members injured in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing. (Fox Nation)
Vargas-Andrews vowed he and his fellow soldiers impacted by the Kabul attack would never let the memory of the day fade away. “We’ll never be forgotten,” he said. “[This] mentally wounded the entirety of the ‘GWOT’ [Global War on Terrorism] generation.”
The documentary traces not only the Kabul attack itself, but also the injured soldiers’ inspirations for joining the U.S. military, despite many criticizing the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan as an “absolute disaster,” Jones said.
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“I remember going up to my mom’s room, and I was, like, ‘Hey, I’m going to join the Marine Corps.'” Vargas-Andrews said. “I knew it was a place that I could hopefully go and become a man and help those less fortunate. And still to this day, enlisting in the Marine Corps is the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.”
Former Army aviator Rep. Matt Van Epps, R-Tenn., recently blasted the Biden administration over the controversial U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Hundreds of people, some holding documents, gather near an evacuation control checkpoint on the perimeter of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. Western nations warned Thursday of a possible attack on Kabul’s airport, where thousands have flocked as they try to flee Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in the waning days of a massive airlift. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
“The Biden-Harris administration absolutely failed to withdraw from Afghanistan, and it didn’t have to be that way,” Van Epps told Fox News Digital. “And it’s important for the American people to remember what the Biden-Harris administration did in that abject failure, withdrawing from Afghanistan.”
The congressman also introduced a resolution marking the fifth anniversary of the shocking bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
To uncover more about the somber legacy of the Kabul bombing and America’s tumultuous exit from Afghanistan, tune into “Ambush at Abbey Gate: The Afghanistan Withdrawal,” now streaming on Fox Nation.
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Fox News politics reporter Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
