President Joe Biden inaccurately stated that he is the only president in the last ten years who did not have American casualties overseas during the recent debate with former President Donald Trump. However, he neglected to acknowledge the thirteen service members who lost their lives during the chaotic Afghanistan evacuation on August 26, 2021, in the initial year of his presidency.

“When he was president, there were still killing people in Afghanistan, and he didn’t do anything about that,” Biden said. “When he was president, we still found ourselves in a position where you had a notion that we were the safe country. The truth is, I’m the only president [in]this century, that doesn’t have any — this decade — that doesn’t have any troops dying anywhere in the world.”

The families of fallen soldiers, who are part of the gold star community, expressed their sense of abandonment by the president due to the mishandled withdrawal. They urged the administration to acknowledge its errors and pay tribute to those who lost their lives. During a briefing on August 29, 2022, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to provide any information regarding the president’s plans to commemorate the fallen service members.

A recently published book in February revealed that Biden maintained the belief that no mistakes were made during the withdrawal, despite facing widespread criticism from gold star families and his opponents.