港澳天下彩has partnered with PolitiFact to fact-check Florida politicians. The Pulitzer Prize-winning team seeks to present the true facts, unaffected by agenda or biases.
The between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump touched on many issues, including U.S. military activity abroad.
ABC News moderators asked Harris whether she believed she bore any responsibility for the way the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. Thirteen U.S. service members in an attack during the withdrawal.
Harris said she agreed with President Joe Biden鈥檚 decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.
"Four presidents said they would, and Joe Biden did," Harris . "And as of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world, first time this century."
When we contacted Harris鈥� presidential campaign for evidence to support this statement, a spokesperson referred us to the Defense Department.
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A Defense Department spokesperson told PolitiFact that the U.S. is neither engaged in a war, nor has service members fighting in active war zones anywhere in the world.
"An aspect of military service includes serving in locations where hostile actions may occur," the Defense Department official said in a statement to PolitiFact. "Those locations are designated by executive order and/or the Secretary of Defense. However, it鈥檚 important to note that just because a service member is in one of these locations does not mean they are engaged in war."
But Harris鈥� inclusion of "combat zone" in that statement is misleading and experts said it significantly underplays the broader landscape of active duty military service abroad.
The Internal Revenue Service tracks combat zones for tax purposes. The term generally refers to "hostile areas where (the) military may serve, (including) actual combat areas, direct combat support areas and qualified hazardous duty areas," the IRS on a webpage last reviewed and updated Aug. 19.
Citing the Defense Department, the IRS that as of August, recognized combat zones included the Sinai Peninsula, and the Afghanistan, Kosovo and Arabian Peninsula areas.
Melanie Sisson, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, a think tank, said some of these combat zone designations, such as the one over Kosovo, are "holdovers" from previous U.S. military operations. But the combat zones do include areas in which U.S. service members are now deployed, she said.
PolitiFact asked the Defense Department for a list of places within the designated combat zones that U.S. military service members are serving in, but we did not receive a response before publication.
As of June, the nonpartisan think tank Council on Foreign Relations the U.S. had several thousand service members stationed across multiple foreign countries and on ships at sea in the Middle East. Many of these countries are in the currently recognized combat zones listed on the .
Specifically, the Defense Department and news outlets have reported that there are about and about , fighting against Islamic State militants. Additionally, thousands of U.S. service members have been to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war started in October 2023.
There have been multiple instances this year in which U.S. service members have been killed or injured while serving abroad.
In January, were killed and at least 34 others were injured in a drone strike in Jordan. In February, drowned during an Iranian weapons seizure mission. In August, were wounded in a drone attack in Syria. That same month, another were injured in a raid targeting Islamic State militants.
"It is not accurate to suggest that U.S. service members are not, today, in harm鈥檚 way," Sisson said.
Peter Feaver, a Duke University political science professor who specializes in civil-military relations, echoed Sisson, saying many U.S. military personnel are engaged in operations "that put them at serious risk of attack by adversaries."
"For the men and women serving on these and many other missions, not to mention their families and loved ones, this feels very much like serving in a combat zone," Feaver said.
Our ruling
Harris said, "As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world, for the first time this century."
The Defense Department confirmed the U.S. military is not engaged in a war. But Harris鈥� statement ignores critical facts.
There are thousands of U.S. military service members stationed in areas that are considered combat zones. These members face hostilities from foreign adversaries and some have been killed or injured during military operations.
We rate Harris鈥� statement Mostly False.
Our Sources
- Email exchange with Morgan Finkelstein, Kamala Harris鈥� presidential campaign spokesperson, Sept. 11, 2024
- Email exchange with a Department of Defense spokesperson, Sept. 11, 2024
- Email interview with Melanie Sisson, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, Sept. 11, 2024
- Email interview with Peter Feaver, a Duke University political science professor who specializes in civil-military relations, Sept. 11, 2024
- PolitiFact, "," Sept. 11, 2024
- YouTube, "," Sept. 10, 2024
- Council on Foreign Relations, "," Aug. 6, 2024
- Internal Revenue Service, "," Aug. 19, 2024
- Defense Department, "," Sept. 9, 2024
- Military Times, "," Aug. 14, 2024
- Reuters, "," Feb. 3, 2024
- Reuters, "," Aug. 13, 2024
- The Associated Press, "," Aug. 26, 2021
- The Associated Press, "," Feb. 23, 2024
- The New York Times, "," Jan. 29, 2024
- NPR, "," Aug. 31, 2024
