| The urgency bordering on panic of the past week laid bare how President Biden's plan to end the 20-year U.S. military effort — leaving Afghan forces to hold off the Taliban for months as negotiators redoubled efforts to hammer out a peace deal — has undergone a rapid dismantling. Surprise at the lightning advance of the militants is rooted in misplaced assumptions, including a failure to account for how the U.S. departure would catalyze a crisis of confidence in Afghan leaders and security forces. | 
