Afghanistan bombings weigh on Vice President Kamala Harris’ stop in Hawaii

The first trip to Vietnam by a sitting vice president — Kamala Harris — was overshadowed by the ongoing rush to evacuate civilians from Kabul airport in Afghanistan and then affected by the tragedy of two suicide bombings.

Air Force Two touched down at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport at 2:40 p.m. Thursday and taxied up to the historic operations building at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam just before 3 p.m. after Harris visited Singapore and Vietnam.

Harris exited the big blue-and-white aircraft and spent a couple of minutes talking next to the plane with Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, before heading to her motorcade for the short trip across the airfield to Hangar 19 and a private talk with military members.

The meet-up had earlier been advertised as open to the travel pool of reporters, but was closed after the Afghanistan suicide bombings.

Harris issued a statement saying that Thursday’s terror attack killed 13 American service members. “These courageous service members died while saving countless lives. They are heroes,” she said. At least 60 Afghans were killed.

She and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, “grieve for the Americans we lost. We pray for the Americans injured in the attack, and our hearts go out to their loved ones. We also grieve for the Afghan civilians killed and injured.

“Our country is grateful to all our women and men in uniform and, in particular, those working today to get Americans and our Afghan partners out of harm’s way. And we will complete that mission. Today we honor those who gave their lives in service to their nation. We will never forget.”

Harris avoided shouted questions about the situation in Afghanistan as she walked from Air Force Two to her motorcade.

Harris and her husband were seen waving as they boarded the big jet to return to Washington instead of initially scheduled travel to California for a campaign appearance alongside Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is facing a recall election.

Emhoff arrived in Hawaii on Wednesday, the White House said. He originally planned to meet with representatives from the nonprofit AccesSurf and visit a vaccination site at Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, but both events were canceled due to the developing situation in Kabul, according to the White House. Emhoff joined Harris at Hickam.

The vice president addressed 25 members of the military representing the six active-duty service branches and National Guard, thanking them for their service. Harris and her husband boarded Air Force Two for the trip back to the nation’s capital at 4:18 p.m.

Harris said Tuesday in Singapore that months ago President Joe Biden “made the courageous and right decision to end this war (in Afghanistan) because we had achieved what we went there to do.”

She said that while it is imperative to address developments in one region, “we continue to advance our interests in other regions, including this (Indo-Pacific) region.”

The United States has long “put forward a vision of peace and stability, freedom on the seas, unimpeded commerce,” Harris said, adding she was there “to reaffirm our commitment to that vision.”

“To do that, we will invest our time and our energy to fortify our key partnerships, including with Singapore and Vietnam,” she said. China, on the other hand, “continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea.”

U.S.-Vietnamese relations are improving — the recent visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is an example of that — but Vietnam feels pressure from its top trading partner, China.

Before Harris could announce a donation of 1 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to Vietnam, Beijing sent a representative with a promise of 2 million doses, The Washington Post reported.

“Beijing likes to remind Hanoi who of the two giants is closer to it,” the newspaper quoted Huong Le Thu, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, as saying.