EXCLUSIVE: Gold Star families thank President Donald Trump for extraditing terrorist “monster”

THE LOWDOWN:

• Hours before President Donald Trump gave his first joint address to Congress of his second term, he called the members of the Abbey Gate Coalition.

• The families of the 13 service members who were killed on August 26, 2021, first came to national prominence when Biden repeatedly stared at his watch as the coffins with their loved ones rolled by. Several of the families endorsed Trump in his 2024 campaign, and met with him repeatedly throughout the country and appeared at his rallies.

• In contrast with the actions taken by Trump, the coalition noted that “we have been stonewalled, lied to, deceived and kept in the dark during the administration of Joe Biden.”

• The coalition specifically thanked Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) for spearheading their cause from Congress. Issa, one of the Congress’s top watchdogs, “walked along with us and has also been by our sides,” the coalition wrote.

Hours before President Donald Trump gave his first joint address to Congress of his second term, he called the members of the Abbey Gate Coalition. The coalition is a group of Gold Star families whose loved ones were killed by a suicide bomber during President Joe Biden’s failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, to deliver a significant update: in only 40 days, his administration caught and extradited the terrorist mastermind behind the plot that killed their children.

The Washington Reporter exclusively obtained coalition thanked President Trump after his Golden Address for the “absolute quick manner in which they found and extradited the “monster” that planned and facilitated the bombing with Abdul Raham al-Logari, [which was responsible] for the murders of our sons and daughters at the Abbey Gate bombing.”

The families of the 13 service members who were killed on August 26, 2021, first came to national prominence when Biden repeatedly stared at his watch as the coffins with their loved ones rolled by. Several of the families endorsed Trump in his 2024 campaign, and met with him repeatedly throughout the country and appeared at his rallies.

Several spoke from the main stage at the 2024 Republican National Convention, with many regarding their remarks as some of the convention’s most powerful.

“It took only 40 days, just 40 days only, to locate, and extradite the terrorist that was a major part of the bombing at Abbey Gate,” the group noted. “President Trump and his intelligence apparatus…wasted no time in finding this individual, passing the information to the Pakistan Government to arrest this terrorist and start the process of bringing him to justice here on American soil.”

One of the call’s participants told the Reporter that Trump suggested that Muhammed Sharifullah will be in for a rude awakening on American soil.

In contrast with the actions taken by Trump, the coalition noted that “we have been stonewalled, lied to, deceived and kept in the dark during the administration of Joe Biden.”

“We had been told that the Taliban had killed the leader of the attack, but got no further information. This was typical of that administration. We’ve never been talked to by any member of the Biden administration nor have they put in any work to find all those that were involved in the murders even after President Biden made the statement on TV that he would hunt them down.”

The coalition specifically thanked Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) for spearheading their cause from Congress. Issa, one of the Congress’s top watchdogs, “walked along with us and has also been by our sides,” the coalition wrote.

“Congressman turned National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was also an integral partner in helping us to find those responsible for the bombing,” the letter read. “He has seen first hand our anger, pain and solid resolve to never give up. He has also not given up on us either.”

The group also thanked Marlon Bateman and Doug Quezada for their tireless advocacy in helping them initially connect with Issa.

“This is the first step, with many more to come, but we are humbled and excited at the same time that we have a President that cares about us, and cares about the people of these United States, and the members of our military to whom we owe so very much for all that we have,” the group concluded.