Stubbornly, Biden is refusing to admit the disaster that is plainly unfolding. It turns out that there never was a contingency plan for the pullout because there was never a plan to pull out. The Afghans were not warned to prepare for what was to come. Quite the opposite, they found out like the rest of us, from their televisions, at a time when a third of their air force was down, and remains down, due to parts shortages.

President Biden, however, could have prepared. He had access to all the secret intelligence he needed, which the Department of Defense used to warn him about the inevitable catastrophe—not that any especially deep analysis or original insight was needed to know what would follow the announcement of a timed U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The bipartisan, international Afghanistan Study Group more or less predicted this outcome back in February.

The fecklessness is not limited to Biden himself; his wider administration is complicit. State Department spokesman Ned Price has conceded that the Taliban is already committing war crimes, and he has warned them that, if they continue, they will be internationally isolated. The Taliban, though, does not seek recognition from gentle liberals. Besides, the Pakistanis, the Iranians, the Chinese, and the Russians are already moving ahead with recognizing the Taliban regime as soon as Kabul falls, which is likely just a matter of weeks under the current trajectory. Each is anticipating a mass influx of refugees in its territory, and they need to be nice to the Taliban to stop this. Each also fears a regime that could export terrorism into its territory.