According to Foer, Psaki realized the urgency of the situation during this tumultuous event and reached out to then-White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, expressing her contemplation to cut short her family vacation. Klain's response was straightforward: "I'm sorry. I think you need to."

The book also reveals that President Biden was actively involved in monitoring the evacuation flights, suggesting innovative ways to increase the number of people on board. It is claimed that he even requested updates on the safe departure of individual evacuees from Afghanistan.

Despite successfully evacuating more than 120,000 individuals as Afghanistan fell into Taliban control, Foer contends that the administration's ad-hoc logistical efforts struggled to dispel the perception that they were slow to react to the crisis.