FRIDAY FOTO (August 27, 2021)

No Better Friend

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla)

A U.S. Marine with the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command (SPMAGTF-CR-CC) escorts a boy to his family during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 24.

The Marines have a saying about themselves: “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy.” This photo illustrates the first part of that saying.

Two days after the photo was taken, 11 Marines and a Hospital Corpsman — one of the Navy medics who take care of Marines in the danger zone — were killed by a terrorist bomb just outside the airport. Fifteen other U.S. service members were injured in the blast. Scores of Afghans were also killed and more than 100 injured.

The attack is believed to be the handiwork of a violent extremist group that calls itself ISIS-K, an offshoot of the Islamic State terrorist organization that established a sprawling caliphate in Iraq and Syria. The group was all but destroyed by a U.S.-led campaign but affiliates like ISIS-K have since emerged and drawn recruits from other local and regional militant groups.

Despite the tragic loss of life, the mission to evacuate American citizens and vulnerable Afghan civilians from Afghanistan will continue undeterred, Marine Corps General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of U.S. Central Command, said during a briefing Thursday (August 26) at the Pentagon.

“Let me be clear: while we’re saddened by the loss of life, both U.S. and Afghan [citizens], we’re continuing to execute the mission,” the general said. Currently, there are now some 5,000 individuals awaiting evacuation from the country, McKenzie added.

Since August 14, more than 104,000 civilians have been evacuated — including about 5,000 Americans. McKenzie said he believed there are a little over 1,000 American civilians still left in the country. “We’re doing everything we can, in concert with our Department of State partners, to reach out to them and to help them leave, if they want to leave. And remember, not everybody wants to leave,” he said.

At the White House, President Joe Biden said “We must complete this mission and we will.” He also vowed to hunt down the perpetrators. “We won’t forgive. We won’t forget. We’ll hunt you down and we’ll make you pay,” Biden promised the attackers at a press conference hours after the attack.

We have a feeling that sometime in the not too distant future, the Marines, or some other unit of the U.S. military, will come knocking to collect that payment from ISIS-K.