Gold star parents Steve Nikoui and Shana Chappell, who lost their son in the chaotic U.S. Afghanistan withdrawal last August, are calling for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley to resign.
Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui was one of 13 service members killed in an Aug. 26 attack by an ISIS bomber at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The bomber responsible for the attack was a former prisoner released by the Taliban after the United States left Bagram Airbase after a 20-year occupation, CNN has reported.
"I’d like to see Gen. Milley resign," Steve Nikoui, Kareem’s father, told "Fox and Friends" on Monday. "He should be held responsible for this. He’s the Joint Chiefs of Staff [chairman]."
"They let the Taliban dictate the evacuation. I don’t feel any of them have been held accountable. And the president, he hasn’t taken any accountability on it either."
The Marine’s mother, Shana Chappell, argued the 13 service members were killed in Kabul because of American officials’ decisions.
"I’m still waiting for them to be held accountable for it. For some reason, they want to put the blame on everyone but themselves, but it is actually their fault all of this happened," Chappell said on the show. "The 13 that are dead, that is their fault."
Nikoui said he’s "frustrated."
"We were able to keep our son alive … for the last 20 years," he told the outlet. "Then he goes and joins the military to serve our country and our country can’t protect him the way that he needs to be protected. "
"We still haven’t got the autopsy report," the father said. "We have reasons to believe that our son was shot."
There was reportedly a firefight following the bombing just outside the airport gate, and also a second attack at a nearby hotel, the Baron Hotel, where many sought refuge as they tried to escape.
"He wanted to be a Marine since he was a toddler … it was just something that he had always wanted," Chappell told "Fox & Friends." "It’s still kind of unreal that he’s even gone."
Just days after the carnage, Steve Nikoui told the Daily Beast that he wanted to "respect the office" of the president, but was angry at President Joe Biden — and was happy when Donald Trump was in office when Kareem joined the Marines.
"I really believed this guy didn’t want to send people into harm’s way," he said of Trump.
But of Biden, he said, "They sent my son over there as a paper pusher and then had the Taliban outside providing security."
"I blame my own military leaders … Biden turned his back on him. That’s it," Nikoui told the news outlet.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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