Long Islanders are concerned for the troops and U.S. citizens who are still waiting to be evacuated from Kabul as the deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan approaches.

Thursday was the one of the deadliest days in the 20-year history of the Afghanistan War. The killings of more than a dozen American military members are stirring up strong emotions in Long Islanders who served there.

"To have one of the biggest losses we've had in a long time, it hurts," says Afghanistan war veteran Frank Vicari, of Franklin Square. Vicari says it's hard to watch the carnage caused by twin explosions near the Kabul Airport which killed at least 13 U.S. service members and dozens more Afghans.

Vicari says an interpreter he worked with didn't make it out alive.

"It's just hard, no matter who it is because we all as a country have had our men and women put their blood and sweat into it," Vicari says.

"It's absolutely tragic and in many ways it's self-inflicted," said former Rep. Peter King. He says the deadly attack was foreseeable and put blame on the Biden administration for relying on the Taliban for security outside the airport, but he says the focus now should be on the evacuation.

"The main thing now is for the president to come up with a plan and get it implemented to get everyone out that we possibly can, make it clear we're not going to leave until every American is out and hopefully also every Afghan interpreter, everyone who worked at our bases because they're going to be killed. They will be killed as soon as we leave," King stressed.

Meanwhile, Christopher Levi, of Melville, who also served in Afghanistan and lost his legs in Iraq, says the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan should not cast a dark shadow over the good work that was done by American forces there over the last two decades. He hopes the country is not forgotten.

"I don't think it was pointless. I don't regret any day I spent there," Levi says. "When we were there, we were trying to develop the country. We were trying to help them develop themselves," Levi says.

On Thursday, President Biden said the withdrawal will continue despite the attack. He will grant the military additional troops to aid in the evacuation if needed.

King says those troops should stay in Afghanistan until everyone is out, and that means possibly going past the Aug. 31 deadline.