Mothers of Marines killed in Kabul blast say Biden administration continues to lie to them: Gold Star families claim Pentagon told them to keep quiet about investigation and SIM cards taken from their children’s cellphones

Mothers of Marines killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul during the final chaotic days of the Afghan withdrawal say they were lied to by the Pentagon and officers kept some of their sons’ belongings.

The mother of Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez said her sons’ comrades injured in the attack were even told not to talk about what happened.

It comes as the Biden administration received new calls on Monday for an explanation of what went wrong in August 2021, when a suicide bomber was able to detonate its deadly cargo at Kabul airport, killing 13 Americans and at least 170 Afghans.

“When we got the Department of Defense report through the investigation, they told us they didn’t have the three minutes the bomb went off, they didn’t capture that, the drone didn’t capture that,” Alicia Lopez told News Nation.

“Some parents were told that… we shouldn’t even be seeing those images anyway. That it was too much for us to handle and that in itself is a lie because that video does exist.

Marine Cpl Humberto Sanchez and Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez (right)

Her son was 22 when he died trying to maintain security and order at Kabul’s Abbey Gate International Airport amid the dangerous crowds of people trying to leave.

The Taliban had taken control of the country when local forces simply melted away without the support of US and international troops and air cover.

Lopez’s mother said she would have understood if she had simply been told the three minutes of footage were a secret.

“However, they completely told us that video didn’t exist,” she said.

“They have removed SIM cards from our children’s mobile phones. Some mobile phones have not been returned,” she said standing next to Coral Briseño, whose son Humberto Sanchez also died in the blast.

“Both Coral and I didn’t get cell phones from our kids.

“The Marines who came home, the wounded, the ones who actually came home, were told not to talk about it.

“They had their account of what happened and they were told that because of the explosion they didn’t have a good memory of the incident.”

The Americans killed in the blast were: (from left to right, starting with top row) Cpl. Daegan W. Page – Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo – Staff Sergeant Darin T. Hoover – Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza – Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum – Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui – Cpl. Hunter Lopez – Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz – Staff Sergeant. Ryan C. Knauss – Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez – Marine Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak – Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola – Sgt. Nicole L. Gee

The withdrawal will be remembered for the chaotic scenes of desperate Afghans trying to escape from the Taliban at Hamid Karzai International Airport

Other Gold Star families spoke out on Monday at a congressional forum about the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

They described their anger when they heard politicians describe the withdrawal as a success and demanded full accountability for what went wrong.

“We were told lies, were given incomplete reports, false reports, total disrespect,” said Kelly Barnett, mother of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover. “I was told to my face that he died instantly.

‘That is not true. The only reason I know this is because witnesses told me the truth. I was lied to and basically told to shut up.”

And Christina Shamblin, mother of Sgt. Nicole Gee, said how much it hurt to hear politicians crowing about the success of the evacuation.

“When our leaders, including our defense minister and our commander-in-chief, call this evacuation a success as if something should be celebrated, it is like a knife to the heart of our families and to the people who came back,” she said.

A Ministry of Defense official later told the News Nations: “The Ministry of Defense extends our deepest condolences to the Gold Star families who lost loved ones in the tragic bombing of Abbey Gate.

“We are eternally grateful for their service, sacrifice and dedicated efforts during the evacuation operations.”