A Marine sniper catastrophically injured in the deadly blast at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport praised President Donald Trump for keeping his promise to victims after the U.S. apprehended the terrorist allegedly responsible.
Retired Marine Corps. Sergeant Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who lost an arm and a leg in the attack, told “Fox & Friends” he wasn’t “necessarily shocked” by the news but is glad to see those responsible face some accountability.
“I was at Arlington recently… with President Trump and Vice President Vance, and I spoke to them directly, and they both promised me and these families, as they have previously, to our faces, that there would be accountability in our nation’s government and elsewhere for what has happened,” he said.
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Vargas-Andrews’ friend and mentor, Ssgt. Darin “Taylor” Hoover, was one of the 13 U.S. servicemembers killed in action in the August 2021 bombing during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. He said Trump recognized Hoover’s name during their discussion, adding that Trump said he knew Hoover’s family very well.
“Hoover was killed next to me,” Vargas-Andrews said. “And just to have the president know who he is and to truly understand and be coherent enough to work with these families and be friends for them… I think almost every day since that day… the Trump administration has been there for them [Gold Star families] when the previous administration was not.”
Vargas-Andrews told co-host Lawrence Jones that he was informed about the top terror suspect’s apprehension the afternoon before President Trump revealed during Tuesday’s joint address to Congress that the suspect, identified as Muhammed Sharifullah, was in U.S. custody.
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“I want to thank, especially, the government of Pakistan for helping arrest this monster,” Trump said during the speech, calling it a “momentous day” for the Gold Star families of the servicemembers who lost their lives during the attack.
Trump additionally vowed that Sharifullah would face the “swift sword of American justice.”
While relieved to see the mastermind behind the attack face accountability, Vargas-Andrews said the “most important” thing is to make sure Defense and State Department officials “who are at fault for getting us to where we have been today” are held accountable as well.
Gold Star mom Paula Knauss Selph, whose 23-year-old son Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss was killed during the attack, praised Trump’s aggressive approach to terror in a “Fox & Friends First” segment on Thursday.
She told co-host Carley Shimkus, “If he did not [take a tough stance], then every terrorist that is around this world right now would be eyeing us a little bit more. Because he is showing that he is showing no tolerance for nonsense, especially in the lives of our military and those who we are serving, this is a great response from our president.”
Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
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