Mother of Fallen Soldier Rips Biden for Afghanistan Exit: 'Heartless'

The mother of one of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the deadly bombing in Kabul amid the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan blasted President Joe Biden and his administration's response to the attack, calling him "heartless" for trying to compare the death of his son to hers.

"When Joe Biden, our elected president, entered the room, when he approached me, his words to me were, 'My wife, Jill, and I know how you feel. We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag-draped coffin,'" Cheryl Rex, mother of Lance Corporal Dylan Merola, said at a Monday press conference in Escondido, California.

"My heart started beating faster and I started shaking knowing that their son died from cancer and that they were able to be by his side," Rex said. "Also wondering, how someone can honestly ... be so heartless."

Biden's eldest son Beau served in Iraq from September 2008 to September 2009 and died from brain cancer at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2015. The president has repeatedly said that his son "lost his life in Iraq," referring to his long-held belief that the cancer was a consequence of his son's exposure to the military burn pits while on active duty.

Rex was among several family members of the fallen soldiers who spoke on Monday, demanding answers from the Biden administration for the rushed exit from Afghanistan and the deadly airport attack that killed the 13 service members and as many as 170 civilians. The majority of the troops killed in the attack were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment and based at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California, including Merola, who was 20 at the time of his death.

Newsweek on Monday afternoon reached out to the White House via email for comment.

Rex said that since the encounter with Biden, she has not had any contact with him and that her son has not been honored by the president or his administration.

Biden released a statement on the anniversary of the Kabul attack last August, saying, "Our nation will forever mourn their sacrifice and honor the memory of those 13 precious souls, stolen from their families, loved ones, brothers- and sisters-in-arms far too soon while performing a noble mission on behalf of our Nation."

"Today, I am praying for the families of those 13 fallen warriors, who lost a piece of their soul one year ago," Biden said in an August 26, 2021, statement. "Our nation can never repay such incredible sacrifice—but we will never fail to honor our sacred obligation to the families and survivors they left behind"

Other family members who spoke at Monday's event also harshly criticized the Biden administration over the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Darin Hoover, father of fallen Marine Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover, Jr., called on Biden, State Secretary Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie, who was in charge of the U.S. Armed Forces in Afghanistan at the time of the attack, and others to "do what our son did: be a grown-ass man."

"Admit to your mistakes, learn from them so this doesn't happen ever, ever again," Hoover said. "You all need to resign immediately. Our sons and daughters have more integrity in their little toes than every one of them combined."

A report released by the State Department in June found that the Biden administration lacked "a sufficient sense of urgency" when planning for the withdrawal and that coordination between the department and the military was "hindered by the fact that it was unclear who in the Department had the lead." The findings blamed both the Trump and Biden administrations for the chaotic exit but did not name individuals over the Taliban's rapid ability to take back control of Afghanistan.

Christy Shamblin, whose daughter-in-law Sergeant Nicole Gee died in the Kabul attack, said for the Biden administration to call the withdrawal a "success" is "an ultimate disrespect for the very people who deserve every ounce of respect that we can give them."

"I live every single day knowing these deaths were preventable. My daughter could be with us today," Shamblin said. "And that wasn't just one decision, it was many decisions, many times over it could have been stopped."

"That day, there were 13 avoidable deaths of our service members, 30-plus critically wounded warriors who have our hearts. These young men and women came back bigger patriots than they left," she said. "We left thousands of allies behind, billions of dollars in resources for them to use against us. This was not a success."

The other 10 troops who died in the bombing were eight Marines: Lance Corporal David Espinoza; Corporal Hunter Lopez; Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum; Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui; Corporal Daegan Page; Sergeant Johanny Rosario; Corporal Humberto Sanchez; and Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, as well as Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss and Navy Petty Officer Third Class Maxton Soviak.