From New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro. This is a daily.

Today, the American miscalculations and misjudgments that led to the stunningly fast collapse of Afghanistan

and to the scenes of chaos in Kabul.

I spoke with my colleague, David Sanger.

It's Tuesday, August 17.

David, I want to start with the latest developments inside Kabul.

Now that it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban, can you describe what that scene has been like over the past 24 hours or so?

Well, Michael, it was a weekend in which events unfolded much faster than anybody at the White House, journalists, even people in Kabul thought they would.

If you're just joining us, we're getting new developments from Afghanistan, where the situation is changing there, minute by minute.

And by Sunday, the Taliban were at the gates of the city.

American Tsunok helicopters have been spotted taking off and landing near the U.S. Embassy as the Pentagon speeds troops into Kabul to get our people out.

We were seeing helicopters lifting off a Jason to the American Embassy, clearly beginning to shuttle people out to the airport.

Richard said something at the top of his reporting, and I want to make sure that everybody heard it because it is significant.

The President, President Ghani of Afghanistan, has left the country.

By midday, President Ghani had fled the palace, was out of the country.

It looked like he had not even told his cabinet for his top eights.

You are looking at Taliban fighters inside the presidential palace.

By Sunday night, there were pictures of the Taliban showing up at the palace.

A stunning turn around all the events.

And then on Monday, we saw these heartbreaking scenes from around the Hamid Karzai airport.

There were thousands of Afghans trying to get through the gates, over the gates.

Anything they could do to get their families inside the airport compound in hopes of somehow flying away from the Taliban's clutches.

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