Despite warnings that Kabul was at risk of collapse, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was vacationing in the Hamptons just hours before the Taliban invaded the Afghan capital and toppled the government, according to a report.
On the Friday afternoon before the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, many senior White House staffers prepared to go on vacation after President Biden left for his Camp David retreat, according to the Washington Post’s detailed timeline of the Taliban takeover.
Blinken headed to the Hamptons, according to the paper.
His family has had a longtime presence in East Hampton, where Blinken’s father, Donald Blinken, a US ambassador to Hungary under President Bill Clinton, has lived seasonally on Lily Pond Lane for some 50 years, the East Hampton Star reported.
But Blinken and other top Biden administration officials — who expected the Afghan government to hang on for weeks — had to be called back to Washington, DC, when the insurgents swept to power, according to the Washington Post.
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