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On the four-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan – and the Abbey Gate bombing that killed 13 American service members – veterans who risked their lives to rescue civilians trapped in Kabul are now speaking out.
Dennis Price, a special operations forces (SOF) veteran and founder of “Heroes for Humanity,” worked to rescue many trapped in the newly-Taliban-controlled territory.
“On this four-year anniversary of the disastrous Afghan withdrawal carried out by the previous administration, we remember a failure that will haunt thousands,” Price said.
“Their stories are written in blood and will forever go down in history as such. The administration abandoned our allies and left chaos behind. When the government failed Afghanistan, patriots carried the weight.”
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During the time of the official U.S. withdrawal, Price’s group helped its first civilian dual-citizen family out of Kandahar Province and into Kabul, where the flights were departing.
That family made it through Abbey Gate 45 minutes before it blew up, Price said:
“Truly, by the grace of God.”
Once Price was able to set his organization up in the region, he joined another veteran, retired Force Recon Marine Chad Robichaux, in traveling deeper into Taliban territory. They made risky swims across the Panjshir River between Tajikistan and Afghanistan to avoid terrorist checkpoints; to rescue Arabic-English interpreters left behind.
“It changed my life.”
“Systems failed, but people helping people is humanity’s greatest gift,” Price said.
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Robichaux said that despite leading the largest civilian rescue – more than 17,000 people in 10 days – those left behind still “weigh heavy” on him.
“It seems like yesterday and was an honor to stand alongside so many amazing Americans who worked tirelessly to evacuate as many as we could, as our White House abandoned Americans and allies while unnecessarily putting our brave troops in harm’s way,” he said.
Retired Marine Mark “Oz” Geist also volunteered to try to get Americans out of a collapsing Afghanistan. Geist survived the 2012 Benghazi siege as a CIA contractor, an attack that led to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton being lambasted.
In Kabul, Geist said, the public witnessed “the best and the worst of humanity.”
Geist’s group, Shadow Warriors Project, relied on veterans’ expertise and strategy for a mission that chartered a jet to bring 100 Americans and legal noncitizens to the U.S., including 59 children.
“We saw 13 of our own give their lives, and hundreds of Afghans were left behind in chaos. I carry the faces of the Afghan women we were able to rescue, and I carry the faces of those we couldn’t,” Geist said.
“The withdrawal wasn’t just a moment – it was a wound. But anniversaries like this remind us that sacrifice demands remembrance, and remembrance demands action. We owe it to those who fell, and to those still living in the shadow of tyranny, to never look away, never forget, and never stop fighting for freedom.”
Geist said he has great faith in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to continue investigating the Pentagon’s failings in the 2021 withdrawal.
“Honor demands nothing less.”
A retired Navy SEAL, Jason Redman, was a member of what he and his fellow vets dubbed, “Task Force Pineapple.”
Led by Scott Mann – a retired Green Beret – Pineapple came about as a visual password saved on phones used by the group to safely transport hundreds of Afghan interpreters and families through Taliban-controlled areas until they could reach Hamid Karzai International Airport – in a similar construct to the abolition-era Underground Railroad.
“This Herculean effort was performed by all volunteers, primarily special operations veterans, intelligence analysts, and government civilians,” he said, adding that Pineapple worked with the Biden State Department – which he called “totally useless” – while remaining a civilian operation.
“[It] was a citizen-liaison network focused on working with the [Pentagon] – only marginally better [than Foggy Bottom] to help honor the promise of facilitating safe passage, resettlement and reintegration by leveraging our relationships around the world,” Redman said.
“If anything, 9/11 and the fall of Afghanistan showed that freedom is precious. It must be protected and preserved – for the rights of all people – not just the ones you like or agree with,” Redman said.
While not directly associated with Robichaux’s or Mann’s operations, Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., relied on his experience in the military and as a defense contractor to effectuate his own operation after the fall of Kabul.
Mills helped rescue Americans, including a family initially blocked by a Taliban checkpoint, whom he recounted to Fox & Friends’ Brian Kilmeade at the time.
Mills – then not yet a lawmaker – worked with Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to attempt coordination with the feds, which he later indicated was problematic.
“I saw firsthand the failures of weak leadership that ignored critical intelligence and abandoned our people,” Mills told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
“Thank God we now have a strong America First leader: President Donald Trump, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth – a leader who understands the warrior ethos, whose investigation into the Abbey Gate tragedy is an important step toward justice and accountability for our 13 heroes,” Mills said.
“It’s also an important part of rebuilding America’s strength on the world stage.”
Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for former President Joe Biden for comment but did not hear back by press time.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.
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