Inside the Biden administration as Afghanistan collapses

The Taliban has stunned even some seasoned military and national security officials in the U.S. government with the speed of its conquests over the past week, sources with direct knowledge of the developments tell Axios.

Why it matters: President Biden isn’t budging — resolved to get out by Aug. 31, no matter what — people briefed on his thinking say. He may not see much of a pause between his total withdrawal from Afghanistan and the country’s total collapse into a bloody civil war…

The source, who remains in touch with his former colleagues, said they were despondent and had accepted that Biden is “dug in” and that resistance is “futile.”

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, at a press conference on Monday, said of the Afghan security forces that “it’s their country to defend now; this is their struggle.”