things needed to go in terms of afghan policy and other reporting on the subject. why did you say that may 1 wasn't a real date? >> i really don't like the way that headline read as a ruse. it wasn't a ruse, it was part of an ongoing strategy to negotiate with the taliban and maintain counterterrorism forces in afghanistan or immediately -- very close to afghanistan. so "reuss" is an inaccurate term. the agreement that was signed between the united states and the taliban was phase one of a more ongoing thing. and our intention all along was -- the taliban talks about we had the watches and the clocks, but they have the time. so time -- we felt we had the ability to move the goal posts if we needed to on that one in a way that -- remember, the taliban wanted us out, so let's talk straight negotiating. they wanted us out. we wanted to maintain some sort of counterterrorism presence there.