President Joe Biden met in solemn privacy Sunday with the families of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the suicide attack near Kabul airport as the remains of their loved ones returned to US soil from Afghanistan.

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Biden and first lady Jill Biden were also to attend the “dignified transfer” of the fallen troops while at Dover Air Force Base, a military ritual of receiving the remains of those killed in foreign combat.

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The 13 troops, 11 of which are Marines, range in the age from 20 to 31. They include a 20-year-old from Wyoming who had been expecting his first child in three weeks and a 22-year-old Navy corpsman who in his last FaceTime conversation with his mother assured her that he would stay safe because “my guys got me.” Five of them were born not long before the attacks of September 11 in 2001. 

“The 13 service members that we lost were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our highest American ideals and while saving the lives of others. Their bravery and selflessness has enabled more than 117,000 people at risk to reach safety thus far,” Biden said in a statement Saturday.

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Aside from the quiet commands of honor guards who carry the transfer cases, the short prayers of the chaplain typically are the only words spoken during the ritual.

Family members of the fallen often travel to Dover to be present as flag-draped transfer cases are taken off the transport plane that returns them to American soil.

It was the first time that Biden has traveled to Dover as president for such a movement. 

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The 13 troops who died in Kabul were the first US service members killed in Afghanistan since February 2020. That was when the Trump administration reached an agreement with the Taliban that called for the militant group to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for a US commitment to remove all American troops and contractors by May 2021. Biden announced in April that he would have all forces out by September.

With inputs from the Associated Press