republicans have seized on as they continue to blast the president's foreign policy strategy. >> this is going to be a stain on this president and his presidency. and i think he's going to have blood on his hands for what they did. >> this has been an epic failure across the board, one we're going to pay for for years to come. >> senior administration officials i have spoken to in the last 24 hours acknowledge being stunned by the speed of the taliban advance. they knew that the taliban would move and take territory, but they are taken aback by how quickly the afghan military folded and how quickly that the afghan government seems to have collapsed. but this, of course, let's underscore. president biden has had this long-held belief that american forces should not be a permanent presence in afghanistan, that they should come home. he is following through on a deal first brokered by his predecessor, donald trump. the officials i talked to yesterday saydee spite these images out of afghanistan, there is no course correction planned. they feel, in fact, these aids tell me, that it underscores and reaffirms their decision to