President Donald Trump hosted Gold Star families in the Oval Office on 25 Aug 2025, nearly four years after a suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport’s Abbey Gate during the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal. Flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the president signed a proclamation declaring 26 Aug 2025 a national day of remembrance to mark the fourth anniversary of the attack. The measure is intended to honor the fallen and keep public attention on their sacrifice. Hegseth told the families that the Pentagon is conducting a comprehensive review of the withdrawal and expects to finish its report by mid-2026. "America deserves answers as far as what happened in Afghanistan," he said, adding that the inquiry will be made public. Calling the 2021 withdrawal "the worst day and in many ways the most embarrassing day in the history of our country," Trump assured relatives that such a failure "won’t happen again" under his administration.