WASHINGTON – The second week of August began as a time for vacation for President Joe Biden and some of his team. Then Afghanistan imploded. The reports out of Kabul were harrowing: Images of desperate Afghan nationals clinging to U.S. military airplanes leaving the country and, days later, a suicide bombing at a gate to the airport that killed 13 U.S. troops.
Addressing the nation on Aug. 16, Biden defended his decision to leave Afghanistan but acknowledged that the Taliban takeover of the country “did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.”