The head of the US State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has also left the White House for a brief holiday in the Hamptons, just hours before Taliban militants captured Kabul on 15 August, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
A detailed timeline of the events unfolding in Afghanistan on that day showed that officials in the White House did not expect dramatic changes as “the dominant view was that the Taliban wasn’t likely to pose a serious threat to Kabul until late fall” as most of the workers had by that time “surrendered to the customary rhythms of Washington in August.”
As the situation unfolded in Afghanistan, many officials were called back, including Blinken.
"On the Friday afternoon before Kabul fell, the White House was starting to empty out, as many of the senior staff prepared to take their first vacations of Biden’s young presidency. Earlier in the day, Biden had arrived at Camp David, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken was already in the Hamptons," according to the newspaper.
On 17 August, Biden had left for the presidential retreat at Camp David, stirring a backlash as it came shortly after the Taliban takeover. Later, it was has announced that the president had cancelled plans to visit his residence in Wilmington, Delaware, on 21 August, instead speaking publicly on the ongoing evacuation at Kabul’s International Airport, where thousands gathered to leave the country.
*A terrorist organisation banned in Russia