If you cannot deny your own failure because it is obvious, there is only one way to put it into perspective: the assertion that everyone has failed.
In fact, no government politician in the West has yet claimed to have foreseen the Taliban's lightning victory.
Then he would have to be asked why not enough precautions had been taken for this case.
But even if there were really no warnings about the march through the jihadists: It is one of the elementary approaches in foreign and security business to reckon with the "worst case" - especially in crisis and war situations in which the life of People is at stake.
Double worst case - in Kabul and Berlin
The worst case occurred twice last weekend: in Kabul and in Berlin.
The Taliban not only took the rotten regime in Afghanistan by surprise, but also the Merkel cabinet, which was probably thinking more of the impending retirement than of the unrest in the Hindu Kush.
The Chancellery, the Foreign Office and the Bendler Block should have been even more worried than in Washington, because without American help even the evacuation of the German embassy would not have been possible.
The situation in Kabul has shown "what we can and what we can't," said the Chancellor.
How true.
The balance is depressing.
The coalition parties, however, have already made peace with each other and prefer to speak of the successes in Afghanistan.