At Rehoboth Beach in southern Delaware, Joe Biden was expected over the weekend.

The American president owns a holiday home in the seaside resort.

The local press had reported that a park with a helipad had been closed - a sign that the president was expected.

Instead, Biden spent the weekend at his home in Wilmington, in the north of the state.

Majid Sattar

Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.

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Perhaps it was found that pictures of the beach should be avoided at the moment. At the same time, the Taliban continued their advance in Afghanistan. Over the weekend they took several cities, including Kunduz. A week ago the Pentagon had already said that things were not going well in Afghanistan. This was related to a remark Biden made a month ago when, faced with the Taliban's offensive, he was forced to defend the decision to withdraw his soldiers from the Hindu Kush by the end of August. It was "not inevitable" that the Islamists would take power again, he said. The fate of the country lies in the hands of the Afghan leadership. Should that mean he believes the Afghan security forces are able toto defend the territory they control? Or should it just mean: you have to do it alone now?

The Pentagon is not happy with Biden's decision

The reluctant military response of the American armed forces suggests the latter. Even under Donald Trump, who had significantly reduced the number of troops in Afghanistan, the American armed forces always stood by the Afghans with fighter jets and helicopters in order to regain territories occupied by the Taliban. At the weekend, however, they limited themselves to aerial bombing of the Taliban's arsenals. There are currently 650 American soldiers in Afghanistan - a larger mission can no longer be organized from within the country. The central air force base in Bagram had already been handed over to the Afghans in July. Air support and reconnaissance must now come from outside,from bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and from aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea.

Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense under Barack Obama, said he expected greater American support. But he added that you shouldn't fool yourself: you could only hope for some kind of stalemate. Senior military officials were quoted as saying there were no plans to do more than limited air strikes. The Americans had helped the Afghans recapture Kunduz twice in earlier times.

The Pentagon is not happy with Biden's decision. When the president decided to leave Afghanistan in the spring, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tried to change his mind: "We have seen the film before," Austin is reported to have said at the time - with reference to the consequences of one Decision made by Obama in 2011. This had withdrawn the troops from Iraq. When the terrorist organization "Islamic State" later took large parts of the country, the Americans returned. Biden, who was Obama's vice president, still remembers it well. During an appearance at the White House in early July, however, he left no doubt about his decision. Addressing his critics in the foreign and security establishment, he asked,how long they wanted to risk the lives of thousands of Americans.

How quickly the Taliban is advancing is likely to cause Biden to worry. It is unclear whether an imminent capture of Kandahar or Kabul would induce the government to provide greater military support after all. Biden's spokeswoman Jen Psaki said these days that the president has been ready to make "difficult decisions" for a long time. This probably also includes being the president whose term of office will remain associated with the humiliating images of defeat. Polls show that a majority of voters think his decision is the right one. As things stand today, next year's congressional elections will not be a vote on America's second Vietnam.