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Conflict & Security97 outlets ran this3 min read

Trump Blames Biden for Abbey Gate Deaths on Anniversary

Former president criticises withdrawal five years after attack that killed 13 US service members.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Trump Blames Biden for Abbey Gate Deaths on Anniversary

What this story says

  • Thirteen American service members were killed on August 26, 2021, at Abbey Gate during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
  • Former President Donald Trump blamed President Joe Biden for the deaths, calling the withdrawal "botched".
  • Trump negotiated with the Taliban without involving the Afghan government, and the withdrawal took longer than his timetable, according to one report.
  • The attack was carried out by a lone ISIS-K terrorist.

Who covered it

Left 10%(8)Centre 40%(32)Right 50%(40)

Percentages are shares of the 80 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 17 of the 97 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

59/100

Hype

41/100

97 sources · methodology

Missing from the left

Only 8 of the 80 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

A reader who follows the left would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

Thirteen American service members died on August 26, 2021, in an attack at Abbey Gate during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The incident occurred during the final stages of the evacuation. The attack was carried out by a lone ISIS-K terrorist.

Disagreement on Trump's role in withdrawal

Joe.My.God. reported that Donald Trump "forever forgets he caused the withdrawal problem by negotiating with the Taliban without the Afghan government involved." This report also stated that the withdrawal "took longer than the timetable he created." None of the other reports mention Trump's prior negotiations with the Taliban or the length of his withdrawal timetable.

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated digests mention Donald Trump's prior negotiations with the Taliban or that the withdrawal took longer than his timetable. The left-rated report from Joe.My.God. was the only source to include these details.

Tags:#AbbeyGate#AfghanistanWithdrawal#DonaldTrump#JoeBiden#ISISK

Coverage settled. We checked this 65 times and stopped on 1 Sept 2026, 09:15. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

8 rated outlets

  • The left-rated report from Joe.My.God. focused on Donald Trump's criticism of Joe Biden's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. The report stated that Trump "immediately blames Joe Biden for the 13 deaths at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan." It also quoted Trump calling the event "one of the greatest atrocities in the History of our Nation, and we can never forget that it was the result of the sheer incompetence of Joe Biden and the Democrats who were in charge." The report also included commentary from social media users who claimed Trump "surrendered to the Taliban" and "freed 5000 Taliban" without consulting the Afghan government.

Centre

32 rated outlets

  • The four centre‑rated outlets, Your Alaska Link, Ashley County Ledger, The Guam Daily Post and The Penn, each ran a digest that led on the fifth anniversary of the Abbey Gate terror attack in Afghanistan. All four reported that the Trump administration honoured service members killed and injured in the attack.
  • Each digest attributes the summary to The Center Square and repeats the same brief description. No additional detail about the circumstances of the attack, the number of casualties, or any statements from officials appears in any of the centre digests.
  • None of the centre digests mention President Trump’s claim that President Biden is responsible for the deaths, nor do they include any cost estimate, reaction from families, or commentary from Afghan authorities. Those elements are absent from the material presented.

Right

40 rated outlets

  • Right-rated reports from Breitbart, Just the News, The White House, The Free Press (Tampa), and RedState focused on tributes to the fallen service members and the anniversary of the attack. Breitbart stated that "President Donald Trump paid tribute to the 13 fallen servicemembers killed in the Abbey Gate bombing five years ago on Wednesday during former President Joe Biden's botched Afghanistan withdrawal." Just the News noted that "The incident saw 13 Americans killed by a lone ISIS-K terrorist" and that Trump "formally declared Aug. 26, 2026, as a day of remembrance for the fallen soldiers." The White House issued a proclamation for the "Fifth Anniversary of the Attack at Abbey Gate." The Free Press (Tampa) reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a statement marking the anniversary and that the attack "killed 13 American service members and more than 160 Afghan civilians." RedState reported that "Trump honors Abbey Gate heroes and condemns Biden's botched Afghanistan withdrawal."

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Trump Blames Biden for Abbey Gate Deaths on Anniversary?
Of the 80 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 10% are rated left, 40% are rated centre, 50% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 97. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Trump Blames Biden for Abbey Gate Deaths on Anniversary left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 80 rated outlets on this story, 10% are rated left, 40% are rated centre, 50% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Trump Blames Biden for Abbey Gate Deaths on Anniversary biased?
Trump Blames Biden for Abbey Gate Deaths on Anniversary is one event reported by 97 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Trump Blames Biden for Abbey Gate Deaths on Anniversary?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Trump Blames Biden for Abbey Gate Deaths on Anniversary?
97 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
How many US service members died at Abbey Gate?
Thirteen American service members were killed at Abbey Gate on August 26, 2021. The attack occurred during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and was carried out by a lone ISIS-K terrorist.
Who did Donald Trump blame for the Abbey Gate deaths?
Donald Trump blamed President Joe Biden for the deaths of the 13 service members at Abbey Gate. Trump described the withdrawal as "botched" and attributed the catastrophe to "sheer incompetence" of the Biden administration.
Did any reports mention Donald Trump's role in the withdrawal negotiations?
One report, from Joe.My.God., stated that Donald Trump caused withdrawal problems by negotiating with the Taliban without the Afghan government's involvement. This report also noted that the withdrawal took longer than Trump's own timetable.

Read it at the source

100 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

8

Centre

33
Show 25 more

Right

42
Show 34 more

Not rated

17
Show 9 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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