The Taliban is here...

By then, the Afghan state was collapsing. The number of local districts under Kabul’s control was diminishing almost by the hour. Kunduz, the biggest city in the northeast, fell the following night. Within 24 hours, other provincial capitals followed, many without a fight. Taliban fighters seized bases full of U.S.-supplied arms and turned them on a demoralized Afghan army unable to resupply troops with weapons, food or water.

President Biden was at his home in Wilmington, Del., where he played a round of golf at the Fieldstone Golf Club and then held a virtual meeting with Team USA to congratulate them on their performance at the Tokyo Olympics. The White House said he was briefed on Afghanistan in between.

The U.S. Embassy on Sunday, Aug. 8, said Americans should leave Afghanistan on the first available flight. Afghans who knew they would be hunted down in a Taliban takeover talked of fleeing. Yet plenty of spaces remained on outbound flights.

The thinking was that the insurgents wouldn’t attack Kabul before the U.S. military withdrawal slated for Aug. 31. Many Washington officials were on vacation, and the attention of those in town focused on the infrastructure bill.

In Kabul, Zara, a 25-year-old English teacher, looked at escape options but kept to her daily routine. “Everything was totally normal,” she said. “We thought it would take three to four months.”

Powerful warlords who had fought against the Taliban before the 2001 U.S.-led invasion mobilized their militias, filling in for deserting troops and inspiring confidence among many Afghans. In the western city of Herat, gray-bearded warlord Ismail Khan, Kalashnikov in hand, prepared to protect the city. Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, notorious in 2001 for sealing Taliban prisoners in containers to die, and Tajik commander Atta Mohammad Noor organized the defenses of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

But cracks appeared. Officials now peppered conversations with reminiscences of how this or that senior Taliban commander was a best friend from childhood and that they had kept in touch. 

On Tuesday, Aug. 10, Finance Minister Khalid Payenda quit his job and flew out of the country, tweeting that “it was time to step down to attend to personal priorities.” Alarmed by a snowballing exodus, Mr. Ghani instructed the airport not to allow senior officials to leave Afghanistan. He told the passport office to stop renewing or issuing passports for 20 days, senior officials said.

That afternoon, Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar consulted with the U.S. chargé d’affaires, Ross Wilson. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal after the meeting, Mr. Atmar acknowledged that Kabul was surprised by the speed of the Taliban advance. He also spoke with confidence about turning the tide with armed drones and reshaping the war strategy to focus on defending major cities. He complained about a “panic mood among some actors,” when asked about evacuation preparations and the advice from foreign missions for their citizens to leave the country.

In Washington, Mr. Biden celebrated the passage of the infrastructure bill by the Senate. Asked about Afghanistan, he said, “Afghan leaders have to come together.” He added that he didn’t regret his decision in spring to withdraw all U.S. forces.

By Wednesday, Aug. 11, Mazar-e-Sharif was an isolated island in a sea of Taliban, accessible only by air. The local army corps commander asked to be relieved. Mr. Ghani, along with Mr. Dostum and other warlords, flew there.

Afghanistan’s commander-in-chief made no public remarks to rally the troops or raise the morale of residents that day. Instead, he talked about how militia members could now be paid via mobile-phone apps, officials said.

In contrast, Mr. Dostum in a speech pledged to regain northern Afghanistan from the Taliban now that he was in charge again. “All the people will stand up against them,” he said. He boasted that the Taliban couldn’t defeat him “even if they brought all of Pakistan.”

Decision-making had long been concentrated in the hands of Mr. Ghani’s national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, a 38-year-old former ambassador to Washington with no military training. Mr. Mohib spent his days calling battlefield commanders, bypassing the military chain of command.

While the Taliban swept regions in the north, the insurgents that Wednesday also made a push for the city of Ghazni, south of Kabul. With little will to fight, the provincial governor, Daud Laghmani, negotiated a surrender in exchange for safe passage. He presented his Taliban successor with flowers. Taliban fighters escorted Mr. Laghmani’s convoy of SUVs to the border of the neighboring province, where he was arrested for treason.

The downfall of Ghazni opened a southern approach to Kabul and marked a turning point in the Taliban advance. “After Ghazni fell then we really couldn’t hold anything,” a palace official said.

Many Afghans saw that the Taliban might not wait for the American departure. Flights sold out, and black-market prices for visas surged. Thousands of people crowded passport offices in Kabul, despite Mr. Ghani’s order to stop issuing or renewing them. 

Washington projected confidence. Afghan security forces “have the equipment, numbers, and training to fight back,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. By then, the State Department had asked the American Embassy to destroy sensitive documents.

Taliban promises 

Since striking the February 2020 deal for the withdrawal of American troops, Taliban leaders assured U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad that they wouldn’t try to seize Kabul by force. They told Mr. Khalilzad, one of the few Trump administration officials who remained under Mr. Biden, they would seek a power-sharing deal with political forces in Kabul.

Their main condition was for Mr. Ghani to resign before the forming of a transitional government. Mr. Ghani demanded a cease-fire first.

By Thursday, Aug. 12, the defenses of Herat had crumbled. Taliban fighters, hiding in the city, spread through neighborhoods. Mr. Khan, the warlord intending to protect Herat, was captured by militants. He was made to speak on camera. “This all happened so instantly,” he said, shaken. He urged soldiers elsewhere to lay down their arms. In the southern city of Kandahar, the Taliban’s spiritual birthplace, government forces dissolved overnight.

In Kabul, Mr. Ghani convened a meeting with political leaders, including chief negotiator Abdullah Abdullah, who had just returned from talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar. Mr. Ghani asked the foreign ministry for his passport, and speculation swirled that the Afghan president would resign.

Mr. Biden on that Thursday discussed Afghanistan and other national security matters with his intelligence team. He returned early in the afternoon to his home in Wilmington, Del., to continue an end-of-summer getaway. 

Shortly after the president’s departure, State Department spokesman Ned Price announced that the U.S., faced with unexpectedly rapid gains by the Taliban, would dramatically scale down its embassy in Kabul and send about 3,000 troops to aid the diplomatic staff. The embassy, he said, would continue operating in the Afghan capital’s Green Zone.

Behind the scenes, Biden administration officials were devastated by the unfolding chaos in Afghanistan, and the danger the Taliban posed to Afghans who had worked for two decades alongside U.S. soldiers and diplomats as translators, fixers and drivers, among other roles.

In a call with Mr. Ghani, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin discussed what limited military support the U.S. could provide. They pressed Mr. Ghani to move quickly in talks with the Taliban, who offered a two-week transition to a new government if the Afghan president stepped down, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.

On Friday, Aug. 13, Kabul was in a panic. ATMs ran out of cash. The swanky Shahr-e-Naw neighborhood filled with people who had fled the Taliban advance. Soldiers from routed units sat in roadside cafes, enjoying mango juice and ice cream, trading stories of betrayal and defeat. “The Taliban are our brothers. I would be happy if they joined the military,” said Gul Mohammad, a 25-year-old officer who had arrived from Kunduz days earlier. 

Embassies in Kabul’s Green Zone started packing. On the street where the foreign minister, Mr. Atmar, lived, between the British and Canadian embassies, staffers carted away wheelbarrows of crockery and household items. Expats hauled suitcases to convoys bound for the helicopter landing zone.

In his first public remarks since the start of what would be the Afghan republic’s final week, Mr. Ghani released a two-minute video. He hinted at decisions that would follow talks with the Taliban and other politicians. He also said the government’s priority was to rebuild national security forces to preserve the past 20 years of achievements.

Safe passage

Zara went for a long swim that Friday afternoon to unwind. She wanted to make the most of the women-only pool while it was still open. “Let’s swim a little longer today because the Taliban could be here at any moment,” another pool regular told her.

“I hoped that, maybe, I could go a few more times,” said Zara, who asked to use only one name. 

After her swim, Zara went to a downtown cafe, a popular hangout spot for young Afghans. She met a young man, her best friend, who wanted her help with an economics paper. They ordered two cappuccinos. Their conversation turned to the fate of Kabul. They made plans to meet again, hoping the city would hold out a few more days.

Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said in a briefing that night, “Kabul is not, right now, in an imminent-threat environment.”

On Saturday, Aug. 14, the Taliban attacked the eastern city of Jalalabad. Mr. Mohib, Afghanistan’s national security adviser, asked American officials whether they would be able to guarantee him safe passage in the embassy evacuations, a person at the meeting said. He was told his wife, a U.S. citizen, should apply on his behalf, and her request would be promptly assessed, the person said.

Mr. Ghani continued to project confidence in public. He posted pictures of himself touring military positions in the city with the defense minister. He discussed defense plans at the presidential palace with the new U.S. forces commander, Rear Adm. Peter Vasely.

Behind closed doors, Mr. Ghani said in a meeting with tribal leaders and elders from the provinces that he was prepared to resign and cede power to a transitional government. Given the Taliban’s battlefield victories, it was clear to everyone that such a government would be controlled by the Islamist movement.

Later that day, Mr. Ghani delivered the same message in a phone call with Mr. Blinken, according to senior Afghan officials. Mr. Blinken was relieved by the news and promised to work with Mr. Ghani to cement a deal with Taliban negotiators in Doha, these officials said. Mr. Ghani told Mr. Blinken he had no plans to leave Afghanistan, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.

Taliban leaders indicated they would be ready for a two-week cease-fire to enable a traditional gathering of elders and notables, known as a Loya Jirga, to pick a new administration, a senior government negotiator said.

On that Saturday around noon, two men in Taliban-style clothes and wearing high-top sneakers favored by militants rode a motorcycle to the entrance of the Green Zone in Kabul. The man sitting behind was filming on his phone. Police at the checkpoint either didn’t see or didn’t care. Similar sightings popped up around the city.

Zara bumped into a terrified neighbor. “The Taliban are here, they are in Kabul,” she warned. Zara got dressed and hurried to the bank. “I thought, I need to withdraw money. But there was no money in the bank,” she said. 

Zara went to the grocery store to buy enough rice, cheese and grains to last her and her family of seven for a week. By the time she made it to the shop there were no fresh vegetables. Kabul University, where Zara’s sister was enrolled, announced it was closed until further notice.

By the evening, the city of Mazar-e-Sharif had fallen. Messrs. Atta and Dostum, once-fearsome warlords, fled with their men across the bridge over the Amu Darya river to Uzbekistan, leaving a long convoy of SUVs, police Ford Rangers and Humvees in front of the border gates, vehicles that would be later collected by the Taliban.

Overnight, the hum of helicopters ferrying people and equipment from the American embassy to the U.S.-controlled airport continued without a break. Commercial airlines were still flying. 

At 4 a.m., Zara was startled awake with good news. A friend had secured an 8:30 a.m. flight to Turkey. The catch was that she needed to show a negative Covid-19 test. By the time she got her certificate, it was too late.

Sunday morning was sunny. People formed a long line outside the central bank, the last place rumored to still have cash. “The government has betrayed the people,” said Mirwais, a Kabul teacher. “This is why I am standing here today.”

There was sporadic gunfire but no signs of a Taliban advance. Mr. Ghani posted a short, rambling video message, saying security forces were coordinating. “I assure all residents of Kabul that you,” he said, with the message ending midsentence.

At the request of Kabul’s negotiators, the Taliban, eager for a negotiated deal that would allow them to control Afghanistan without losing international recognition or aid, released a statement instructing their fighters not to enter Kabul. 

Slipping away

Mr. Ghani’s chief of staff and another senior official met the president around midday in the palace, buoyed by what seemed an imminent agreement with the Taliban that would avert a battle for Kabul. Mr. Ghani complained he was tired and said he would go to his residence adjoining the palace for lunch and rest.

Mr. Mohib soon appeared at the residence as Mr. Ghani assessed warnings from his security team that a Taliban assassination squad was on palace grounds, behind the building, ready to shoot, said a person who was at the palace. No evidence of such a squad has been reported.

Around the same time, Mr. Mohib received a call from Khalil Haqqani, a Taliban leader. Everyone but you, the president, and Vice President Amrullah Saleh have made deals with us, Mr. Haqqani said. according to a senior Afghan official. The Taliban, Mr. Haqqani told Mr. Mohib, would accept only a full surrender

A presidential convoy then ferried Mr. Ghani, Mr. Mohib and a handful of close aides toward the nearby Defense Ministry. The convoy split into two groups.

Mr. Atmar, the foreign minister, had arrived earlier at the palace with Mr. Ghani’s passport. He followed one group to the Defense Ministry. Once there, he saw the president wasn’t in the vehicles and headed back to the palace, according to a senior official who spoke with him.

When Mr. Atmar arrived, he found it was abandoned. Mr. Ghani and his close aides had already boarded three armored helicopters and headed out of Afghanistan. Amid the coming-and-going of U.S. helicopters ferrying people from the American Embassy, the men had slipped away.

A person close to Mr. Ghani said that the decision to evacuate the president was taken by the head of the Presidential Guard, and that Mr. Ghani went along because he didn’t want an expected firefight in the palace to turn into a wider conflagration in Kabul.

The Afghan state, and any opportunity for a negotiated end to the war, had crumbled. Mr. Blinken, in a TV appearance, said the collapse of Afghan security forces “has happened more quickly than we anticipated.”

After word spread of Mr. Ghani’s departure, thousands of people rushed the airport. Some ministers, including Mr. Atmar, got flights.

By nightfall, looters seized abandoned police vehicles and rode through central Kabul. The Taliban’s senior leader in Doha, Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanekzai, called the head of the presidential palace’s security.

It was time, he said, to hand over the keys.

Taliban fighters entered the city, raising the white flags of their Islamic Emirate. The Afghan republic was over.

Days later, Mr. Ghani surfaced in the United Arab Emirates. 

Zara remained in Kabul.