Former Obama administration Department of Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta said that following the collapse of the Afghanistan government and army, the United States’s credibility on the world stage has taken a significant blow.
Surprised U.S. officials over the weekend struggled to explain how quickly the Taliban advanced across Afghanistan before the group took the capital, Kabul, on Sunday and declared victory amid mass surrenders by government officials and soldiers. Meanwhile, U.S. State Department and White House officials confirmed that a significant number of Americans are still inside Afghanistan as the military tries to secure the Kabul airport to carry out evacuation flights.
