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A pair of must-reads on Afghanistan overnight:\n\u2014 A WSJ scoop that casts perhaps the harshest light yet on the administration\u2019s performance, by Vivian Salama: \u201cAn internal State Department memo last month warned top agency officials of the potential collapse of Kabul soon after the U.S.\u2019s Aug. 31 troop withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the document.\n\u2014 A POLITICO tick-tock on \u201cfive days of panic\u201d inside the Biden administration as Afghanistan unraveled and crisis ensued, by Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman, Andrew Desiderio, Alex Thompson and Bryan Bender: \u201c[B]y Thursday morning in Washington, more population centers were falling to the Taliban by the hour, including the provincial capitals of Ghazni and Badghis.\nAnd, did Barack Obama ruin the party in D.C.?\nHis over-the-top 60th birthday party in Martha\u2019s Vineyard first drew criticism for the size of the guest list during the Delta surge \u2014 and then after he slimmed it down, the former president was blasted for throwing an opulent party during a pandemic. It didn\u2019t matter that he was following CDC protocols for an outdoor event.\nThe bashing of the bash is having a chilling effect on the D.C. party scene as (especially Democratic) pols and their staffers scramble to figure out when and where \u2014 or even if \u2014 they can party again.\xa0\nRaghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio.\xa0Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.