Associated Press/Wali Sabawoon
- The father of one of the US Marines killed in the Kabul suicide bomb attack has placed blame on President Joe Biden.
- "I blame my own military leaders," Steve Nikoui told The Daily Beast. "Biden turned his back on him. That's it."
- Nikoui's son, Kareem, was among the at least 13 American troops killed in the Thursday attack.
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The father of one of the US Marines killed in the suicide bomb attack outside of Afghanistan's Kabul airport put blame on President Joe Biden, saying that the commander-in-chief "turned his back" on his son.
"They sent my son over there as a paper pusher and then had the Taliban outside providing security," California dad Steve Nikoui told The Daily Beast on Friday in reference to his young Marine son, Kareem Nikoui, who the news outlet identified as among the at least 13 American troops killed in Thursday's attack.
"I blame my own military leaders," Nikoui said. "Biden turned his back on him. That's it."
Nikoui told the news site that his son had been stationed at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport where the US and NATO allies have been carrying out ongoing evacuation efforts, and had no idea whether his son was alive or dead following the attack.
"I stayed home from work yesterday because there was that attack and I knew he was there," Nikoui said. "So all day, I was glued to the TV."
Nikoui said that in the evening heartbroken Marines showed up at his door to deliver the horrific news that his son had been killed in the bombing, which the Pentagon believes was carried out by ISIS-K.
The Marines, Nikoui said, "were more choked up than me."
"I was actually trying to console them," he said. "But at the same time, I just wanted them to get out as soon as possible so that no one from my family came back and saw them. I thought it appropriate that I be able to tell them."
The devastated dad, who explained that he's "still in shock," said that Kareem "loved what he was doing, he always wanted to be a Marine."
Meanwhile, Maxton Soviak, a US Navy medic from Ohio was identified by the Sandusky Register as another one of the US service members killed in the attack.
A woman who identified herself as Soviak's sister on Instagram made an emotional post about Soviak Friday.
"I've never been one for politics and i'm not going to start now. What I will say is that my beautiful, intelligent, beat-to-the-sound of his own drum, annoying, charming baby brother was killed yesterday helping to save lives," the post read.
The post continued, "He was a f--king medic. there to help people. and now he is gone and my family will never be the same. there is a large Maxton sized hole that will never be filled. he was just a kid. we are sending kids over there to die. kids with families that now have holes just like ours. i'm not one for praying but damn could those kids over there use some right now. my heart is in pieces and I don't think they'll ever fit back right again."
More than 160 Afghans were also killed in Thursday's attack in Kabul.
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15 after the stunning collapse of the Afghan government.