The ignominious end of an era

America's twenty years of war in Afghanistan is coming to an end, and the only thing everyone seems to be able to agree on is that it isn't going very well. News coverage over the weekend was dominated by harrowing footage from on-the-ground in Kabul and commentators and politicians arguing over who deserved the blame. 

"I inherited a deal cut by my predecessor," said President Joe Biden in a statement released by the White House on Saturday. Biden has been criticized for not directly addressing the American public regarding the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, and will leave Camp David to return to the White House Monday afternoon to deliver remarks. His comments from just last month predicting that it would be "highly unlikely" for the Taliban to overrun Afghanistan got a lot of replays over the weekend.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson had an intense clash with Pentagon spokesman John Kirby Friday.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday, as the Taliban control swept through city after city.

Personnel at the U.S. Embassy were evacuated, and took down the American flag before they abandoned the complex.

"Frantic" evacuations were underway at Hamid Karzai Airport over the weekend, with even more disturbing video emerging Monday of Afghanis flooding into the civilian side of the airport, with some so desperate they were clinging to U.S. military planes as they took off, only to fall to their deaths.

Former President Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, slammed Biden and said he should "resign in disgrace."

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was loudly criticized on Twitter after she blamed Trump and Biden for the mess in Afghanistan, as many mocked her omission of her father Dick Cheney's role in the original beginning of the war on terror.

Mark Theissen, a Fox News contributor and former speechwriter for George W. Bush, called Biden a "horrible human being" for his handling of Afghanistan.

George Conway jarringly but unironically offered a “pro” Trump take on the subject of the ongoing and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying both he and Biden “deserve credit, not blame” for the exit.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) also defended Biden, calling his actions "courageous," and saying that Bush, Obama, and Trump "didn't have the guts" to do what he was doing.

CNN's Poppy Harlow questioned how the Biden administration could be "so, so far off." ABC's Martha Raddatz called the situation a "massive intelligence failure."

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan pushed back against comparisons to the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War, saying that helicopters are simply a "common mode of transport" and describing the evacuation of the American embassy as "successful." CNN's Jim Sciutto slammed these comments as "almost comical," and Nick Patton Walsh, a CNN correspondent on the ground in Kabul, called Sullivan out for speaking "nonsense."

Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan emailed Sullivan on Monday, requesting assistance from the Biden administration to get journalists and their families out of Afghanistan.

"This is manifestly not Saigon," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. This CNN historian was one of many who disagreed. Blinken got grilled by CNN's Jake Tapper, who also called out Blinken's boss for being "so wrong" it was "shocking."

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'This is personal for a lot of us.'

Matt Zeller, an Army veteran and former CIA analyst, was distracted for a very understandable reason during a live appearance on The Week with MSNBC’s Joshua Johnson to discuss the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan: he was waiting for news about several family members and friends who had not yet been able to leave the country.

As Johnson introduced him at the beginning of the segment, Zeller could be seen glancing downwards. He would later explain that he had been checking his phone for news of his loved ones.

“I’m trying to get them out,” he said. “This is personal for a lot of us.”

Watch the emotionally powerful segment here.