President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden brought gifts and flowers to wounded marines at Walter Reed on Thursday night.
Injured warriors are recovering in the Bethesda, Maryland facility after the ISIS-K terror attack last week.
The first couple took a motorcade to Walter Reed, and staff were photographed unloading gift baskets and flowers.
The president went under scrutiny for the US’s withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan after almost 20 years.
But Biden defended the move and said it was “the right decision” to end the US’s 20-year military presence in Afghanistan.
“Let me be clear: leaving August 31 is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save American lives,” he said from the White House.
He also mentioned former President Donald Trump’s deal with the Taliban that ensured the withdrawal.
“I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit,” Biden continued.
“The decision to end the military lift operations at Kabul airport was based on unanimous recommendation of my civilian and military advisers.”
The Taliban took over the country and reached Kabul on August 15 after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled and government forces fell apart.
After the announcement that the last US aircraft had left Afghanistan, Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy rallied GOP veterans in Congress to rebuke the president.
Congressman Dan Crenshaw, a war veteran who fought in Afghanistan, accused Biden administration of surrendering the country to the Taliban.
“They love the slogan ‘no more endless wars,’” he said. “We made foreign policy based on an emotional slogan, and it has made America less safe, not more safe.”
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