all the warnings he was given by allies, by military top brass, they have drastically overestimated the fighting power of the afghan armed forces, they have underestimated the speed with which the taliban would advance and that leaves you with a situation today of helicopters ferrying diplomats to the airport, the ambassador being ferried to the airport, the flag being lowered over the kabul embassy, diplomats being told to shred documents. not quite the fall of saigon, but not far short. the bbc sjon sopel. let s get more now on the international perspective and speak tojim townsend. he was president obama s deputy assistant secretary of defense for europe and nato. now he s now at the center for new american security. hello, thank you forjoining us. kabul has fallen to the taliban,