NEW YORK—With the region descending into chaos much sooner than intelligence experts expected, the Taliban overtook Lower Manhattan Thursday, less than a week after the Biden administration left a memorial event at the site where the World Trade Center towers once stood. “It now appears evident that when President Biden directed members of his staff to depart New York following the 9/11 commemoration ceremony, it left a power vacuum below Fulton Street that the Taliban quickly exploited,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who explained that the scenes of desperate bankers, shopkeepers, and tourists attempting to cling to Marine One as it lifted off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport were heartbreaking but unavoidable. “We assumed the NYPD would hold their ground, but they surrendered their weapons and retreated almost immediately as Taliban forces moved in and set up a de facto government in One World Trade Center. At this point, it’s only a matter of time before all five boroughs fall.” At press time, the Taliban’s strength was greatly boosted by the estimated $1.4 trillion in real estate holdings left behind by U.S. officials during the city’s botched evacuation.