Tonight, the president is expected to call for additional troops in a war that has already cast the lives of more than 2,300 servicemen and women, tens of thousands of afghans and cost tax payers hundreds of billions of dollars. For years, before President Trump was responsible for the conduct of the war, he was firmly against the war. October of 2011, he tweeted, when will we stop wasting our money on rebuilding afghanistan . We must rebuild our country first. In march of 2012, afghanistan is a disaster. We dont know what we are doing. In addition of everything else, robbing us blind. January of 2013, i agree with president obama in afghanistan. We should have a speedy withdrawal. Why keep wasting our money . Rebuild the u. S. March that same year, we should leave afghanistan immediately, no more wasted lives. If we have to go back in, we go in hard and quick. Rebuild the u. S. First. When citizen President Trump became candidate trump, his views, as they say, evolved. Do you believe that american boots should stay on the ground in afghanistan to stabilize the situation . I wouldnt totally disagree with it, but at some point, are they going to be there the next 200 years . At some point, its going to be a long time. Its going to be a long time. We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. We had real brilliant thinkers that didnt know what the hell what they were doing and its a mess. Its a miss. At this point, you probably have to, because that will collapse about two seconds after they heave. Just as i said iraq was going to collapse after we leave. Later on, said he was talking about iraq. When he references iraq, it seems to be different. There he is, grudgingly accepting the case for staying in afghanistan. Here he is with a different reason, a variation about going to iraq. In his words, taking the oil. We fight in afghanistan. Afghanistan has great mineral wealth, nobody knew, but afghanistan has great wealth in minerals. And nobody knew this. So, china is taking out the minerals on this side of the ridge, and were fighting over here. How stupid are we . Despite all his criticism of president obama, if President Trump announces hes expanding the u. S. Presence, hell be continuing his predecessors policies, and as the president prepares to address the nation tonight, hes going the ask the country to trust his judgment where american lives are concerned at the precise moment polls show the majority of people do not. Athena jones, what else do we know what the president is going to lay out in his speech tonight . Reporter hi, anderson. Were about to hear more than just about afghanistan. We expect the president to address how the u. S. Can better work with other countries in the region, like pakistan. We know the white house wants to see pakistan do more to fight terror networks. We also know theyve been developing a strategy to counter the growing iranian influence in afghanistan. I dont know how much well hear about that tonight. Vice president pence was set to speak with the president of afghanistan ahead of tonights address. Were still awaiting a readout of that call. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson spoke with the leaders of afghanistan, pakistan, and india today. A state Department Spokesperson says that the topic was how the u. S. Would like to work with each country to stabilize south asia through a new regional strategy. So, we expect the hear the president talk about that tonight. Do we know how much the president S National Security meeting this weekend shaped what he will say tonight . Obviously this, is a debate thats been going on for a while in the administration. Reporter it is. Thats the big meeting that we saw the president send out a photograph, a class photograph of the generals and military leaders who were in attendance. Vice president pence cut short his trip to Central America to attend the meeting. The president in a tweet on saturday said that is when the decision on afghanistan was made. We dont know exactly what was discussed in that meeting at camp david. But we do know there has been some intense debate during this months long deliberation about afghanistan strategy, regarding just how much more military and financial commitment the u. S. Should make to this 16yearlong war. Folks like National Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster were among those arguing for increased engagement, and people like now departed chief strategist steve bannon were arguing the opposite. Bannon opposes adding u. S. Troops to afghanistan. That is in line with the tweets and commentary we saw from candidate trump during the campaign. And from citizen trump four years before that, with the president , as we expected to announce an increase in troops in afghanistan, it looks as though a hawkish argument won. But the president faces a challenge tonight in convincing his supporters that increasing engagement in afghanistan is the right move, considering he spent so long arguing for full withdrawal. Athena jones, appreciate that. A second ago, in fact, the president expands the footprint in afghanistan, it will be a blow to the Foreign Policy that steve bannon supported. Hes back at breitbart news. And the publication is taking aim at its former west wing opponents. Take a look at some of the headlines. What is the goal in afghanistan . Washington does not know. H. R. Mcmaster endorsed book that advocates koran kissing. Theres word that hes ready to go after some of the people he butted heads with, Jared Kushner and ivanka trump among them. Joining us now from the white house is cnns jessica schneider. So bannon certainly didnt waste any time getting back to work at breitbart. How much of his fingerprints are on some of these headlines . Do we know . It seem like a lot of thinks fingerprints are on these headlines. Steve bannon has made his mark at breitbart and made it very quickly. Within hours of his ouster here at the white house, he was back at breitbart, back at his old job he had before he joined the campaign as executive chairman. And hes not being shy about the fact that he will push his agenda. Within hours of his ouster, he told the weekly standard, i got my hands back on my weapons. Im going to crush the opposition. It seems that way in a lot of the headlines at breitbart. Specifically today, as to President Trumps possible increase of troops in afghanistan, we saw two different headlines today from columnists there, saying trumps afghan plan, why the u. S. Will neither win or lose. We saw another column that said after 16 years, why would more troops or money help . So were seeing Steve Bannons mark at breitbart very quickly. As far as going after people he butted heads with, mcmaster, Jared Kushner, gary cohn, how much could that ratchet up in the days ahead . Reporter the targets are very clear, and the message is already very clear. We know that reportedly steve bannon had these people in his target. In fact, the editor in chief of breitbart put it this way to vanity fair saying that he wants to beat their ideas into submission. Steve has a lot of things up his sleeve, to very ominously pointing at what is to come. We know those targets include Jared Kushner and ivanka trump. We know that steve bannon has mockingly referred to them as javanka. Already gary cohn, labeling all thee of those as new york democrat globalists, going against everything that steve bannon believes in. And steve bannon has his sights sell on National Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster. His deputy labeling them as hawks. Which we might see some of their fingerprints on President Trumps plan in afghanistan. So a lot being pushed out of breitbart already, anderson. And its only been a few days. Jessica, thanks. I want to bring in my political panel. I mean, so much for resigning or being fired and kind of going away gracefully and not revealing things that you learned while you were working for your employer. It doesnt seem like thats Steve Bannons philosophy. Very old fashioned. What happened to that thing of just like keeping the secrets you learned . I dont know what is going to happen and i dont think they should have expected it to happen. I wonder if some of the people who advocated for him leaving arent going to regret it. Hes much more dangerous outside because of what he knows and also because look, breitbart is going to operate now on a much more effective fashion with steve bannon back there. Whatever you want to say about steve bannon, he knows what hes doing. He knows how to get his message out there. And it will be much more Effective Organization in terms of targeting the issues that they care about. He also has a lot more information that hes learned. He had a security clearance. Yeah. And i think that he donald trump pays a lot more attention to the news than he pays attention to people right in front of him. You have a lot more influence over him if you can get people ginned up in the outside world versus sitting there trying to talk to him. It seems like hes trying to keep trump on the populist side and save that donald trump, which his base loved. At the same time, were hearing quotes from people at breitbart about impeachment if the president does not adhere to that. I visited bannon twice in the white house, once in march and once in july. What i can say is he viewed himself as surrounded by enemies. Surrounded by people enemies in the white house . He had his concentric circle in the white house. People in the white house like Jared Kushner and mcmaster, those are the top people. So hes losing these battles on personnel, because the top people were not in his camp ideal logically. Then he had the larger republican establishment, paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, who he believes did not accept trumps populist, nationalist agenda. That he believed he was the guy that was protecting that agenda from all the people who came into the trump world after the election. And lets be honest, he lost, right . He doesnt believe in the tax cut plan being put forward by the Republican Party. He wasnt a big believer in the obamacare plan. And to the extent he tried to get it through, he failed. His trade agenda never really got off the ground in the way he wanted. He was against the strike in syria. He lost that battle. And now tonight, it seems like hes against the president s plan in afghanistan. So, were seeing the most idealogical, the person who defines trumpism more than anyone else, now on the outside and will fight that from his perch at breitbart instead. For those that wonder what difference does that make, i spoke with an editor. They have 50 million unique viewers each month that. Is a powerful voice. And steve bannon will continue to do what hes been doing, that is hold the president s feet to the fire, try to influence him to continue to carry the flame that got him elected. Bannon was instrumental in that connecting with the working class people, pushing this nationalist, populist agenda. And he felt as though it wasnt getting done while he was in the white house. He will point out a lot of the people we just named, Jared Kushner, ivanka, and others, he views them as the west wing democrats. Saying they would be more comfortable in a clinton administration. So what bannon will do, theyre going to push back on the globalist ideas and increasing the footprint militarily. But hes going to do it communicating directly to the people. They are more aggressive now that bannon is back. Is this going to be one of those relationships that President Trump seems to have with people that have been fired or resigned. There was corey lewandowski, has he really been fired . Hes still receiving calls from the president. Even when he was on panels. Is steve bannon one of those people . Heres the difference, i think, that makes Steve Bannons situation unique. Steve bannon was never really a trump acolyte. Corey lewandowski and others were cultish followers. He saw donald trump as a vehicle to get his movement out there. And steve bannon is very much a true believer in that world view. So a lot of this was selfinterest for him. So now that hes out of the white house, his loyalty was never to trump, it was, like you said, he felt that this movement was the priority, and he would protect that at all cost, even if that means turning on trump at some point to protect that movement, this populist, nationalist world view that breitbart pushes. And steve bannon, love him or hate him, is a really smart guy. So he understands how this median works. He has a lot of money behind him. Billionaire bob mercer is behind him. And they will they will use this platform in a way to either make trumps life miserable and try to get him to acquiesce to their world view. Or it could be wonderful. But im you see this already. He hasnt been gone for a week, and you already see the war coming from breitbart. Steve bannon is excited about this political guerrilla warfare. He seems to get off on engaging in that. He uses a lot of war terminology. Yes. And just on your point of whether trump will rely on his advice or not, he does have a history of doing that. One trump adviser said he values your advice more when hes not paying for it. I think i gave a long list of fights that bannon lost in the white house. Its fair to point out he really did change the Republican Party on immigration. He and trump changed the party. They were going in a different direction when trump came along and bannon and he pushed the president to remove the United States from the paris climate deal. So not all of his battles were lost. It is interesting. Were going to be hearing from the president in 45 minutes or so, obviously bringing it live and well talk about it afterwards, as well. But from what donald trump as a citizen said about afghanistan to what we believe hes going to say tonight about expanding maybe several more u. S. Troops as advisers, it is a sea change. Obviously as president youre responsible for this. Instead of just a real estate developer. I think when he was running, the things he said, and he said he was running on, was not to expand in afghanistan. And so that was something that really set him apart from all of the other candidates on this stage. No nation building. Right. Thats what were doing. That distinguished him and it can be one of the things we have to take a quick break. Well bring you information on the president s address tonight. As the top of the hour approaches, when the president will be speaking live. When we come back, find out why the secret service cannot pay its agents for protecting the first family, even for hours already worked. The details from usa today are startling. Ill talk to the reporter who broke the story. Later, after President Trumps speech outlining his new afghan strategy, paul ryan faces his voters at a cnn town hall event in wisconsin. That starts at 9 30, right here on cnn. A big night ahead. Well be right back. 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Only congress can raise those caps. Even if it does, some agents will not be paid for hours they already worked. One problem is this administration has more people to protect. 42 members of the Trump Administration have protection, compared to 31 in the Obama Administration. President trump travels almost every weekend. As of today President Trump has spent 65 days at trump properties, almost onethird of his administration. Each of the president s five children have fulltime secret service protection. They travel a great deal, as well. Trump kids have been to lake placid, and aspen, north dakota, and abroad, germany, ireland, italy, among many others. The irony is that before he was president , donald trump was incredibly critical of president obama for his travel, which was not as frequent as this president. In 2011, trump tweeted, barack obama is now in hawaii, costing taxpayers 4 million. And why did barack obama and his Family Travel separately to Marthas Vineyard . They love to extravagantly spend on the taxpayers dime. Some of the money the secret service pays to rent golf carts, the Trump Organization is actually making money from the secret service and from taxpayers. The secret service responded to the story claiming this doesnt have anything to do with the size of the protection the president needs. Joining me now is kevin johnson, the usa today reporter that broke this story. Its an amazing story. So the secret service has said, its just an increase in operational tempo. But i dont quite understand, it seems like a part of the increase in operational tempo is they have so many more members of the Trump Administration to cover and so much more travel. Thats correct. The trump family has 18 members who are covered by security details. And that has driven a large part of the increase, as you mentioned earlier. Up to 42 from 31 during the previous administration. So the in talking with director ales, i spoke to him personally. He indicated he acknowledged President Trumps large family and indicated theres nothing that he can do about that, and wouldnt attempt to do anything about it. His mission is quite inflexible. So hes working with what hes been dealt. A lot of people are surprised to learn that the secret service has to pay the Trump Organization to rent golf carts. More than tens of thousands of dollars so far just spent on golf carts because the president plays golf so much and the secret service has to follow him around, and paying to be in trump tower, they have now this dispute and theyre out in a shack i guess or some sort of trailer out on the street. Yeah, thats a whole other story altogether. The potential conflicts that exist as the secret service carries out its mission in protecting the family members and others. You mentioned the trips that the family members have gone on, the sons have gone off to attend events that are related to trump properties. Those are trips that the secret service has no say over what they do. And merely has become a condition of their protective requirement. Also, it seems like a lot of members of the administration, who in past administrations have not had protective details do now. I think the head of the epa has one, i think the secretary of education has one, as well. Is that correct . Theres a lot about this administration obviously is different. I think what is different really for the secret service, the way it was explained to me, is that theyve never had this type of an arrangement where you have Adult Children who have business interests as far flung as they do. And require travel as part of that business. So its been a new and a new challenge for them to adapt to this reality. Also, obviously everybody who needs protection should get protection. Theyre working for the American People and working for the government. What is the solution here . Just a matter of congress appropriating more funds . Well, i think there was an expectation last fall when this problem was first raised after a contentious election cycle. 1,400 secret Service Agents had reached their caps. They were maxed out in annual pay and overtime. That prompted congress to approve a onetime fix to ensure that all those 1,400 would be paid for the overtime that they earned during that whole season. There was that expectation, though, that the work would normalize after the inauguration. Obviously that hasnt happened. So what it will take in order for these folks to be paid, will be another approval by congress to raise the caps and director ales has proposed or is talking with lawmakers about raising that cap from 161,000 to 187,000. But even with those caps, or with that cap, if its approved, 130 will still not be paid what theyre owed. Thats incredible. To think theyve already worked and will not be paid for the overtime. I appreciate your reporting. Fascinating article in usa today. Speaking of straining the secret service budget, the president is leaving tomorrow to campaign in phoenix. Holding one of those rallies that he so enjoys. The citys they your last week or last week asked him to postpone the visit because it comes so soon after the tragedy in charlottesville, virginia, and also because the possibility that the president is going to pardon sheriff joe arpaio. The mayor, who is a democrat, said arpaio faces up to six months in prison for ignoring a court order to stop racially profiling people he thought looked like immigrants. Order. Gary tuchman is in arizona and joins us now. Theres been concern about what kind of response President Trump may get in phoenix from those who dont support him. Whats the reaction there right now . Reporter i can tell you, its not just the mayor but other local leaders who said to President Trump, please postpone this rally shortly after the rally was announced this past wednesday, just four days after the deadly violence in charlottesville, virginia. But nothing was canceled. All systems are still go for the rally to take place here at the Phoenix ConventionCenter Tomorrow night. All systems are go for largescale protests across the phoenix area, demonstrators are getting ready to participate in these protests, making signs and banners. Theyre buying large quantities of water. Supposed to be over 100 degrees when this takes place. Its nothing unusual to go to protests. But its usually a few dozen to a few hundred people. Its expected the seven or eight groups say they expect thousands of people to be on the streets next to the Convention Center while this is taking place. One of the leaders oh of the protest movement is the founder of a local software company. Youve rallied against him before. Yes. Reporter and the largest number of people who showed up before . A thousand. Reporter what are you expecting for this rally . Over 10,000 really. Reporter so thats the number of people on facebook who said they are going to come . Yes. That doesnt count the people that are offline that dont rsvp on facebook. Its a bad example for my kids, hes a bad example for humanity, to be honest. Reporter now, the protest is scheduled to begin about an hour before the president arrives. There would be a lot of security inside the rally and also because of the protests, outside the rally. Arpaio was popular there for a long time, but he lost reelection last year. I wonder what people are saying about a possible president ial pardon of him. Reporter one thing we should point out, anderson. Usually the Justice Department is involved in president ial pardons. The Justice Department said the wheels are not spinning regarding joe arpaio. However, the constitution gives the president the power to issue a pardon without Justice Department blessings. So, that could still happen. A lot of these protesters, very angry about that possibility. Hes been a lightning rod. He faces up to six months in prison. But we talked to a lot of Trump Supporters in arizona. They would like nothing more than for donald trump to take the stage and say, i pardon joe arpaio. Are you going to the rally . Yes. This will be my eighth. I love trump, hes great. Reporter hes been alluding to the fact that he might pardon joe arpaio. Im 100 behind that. Reporter tell me why. Because hes not guilty. Reporter trump rallies are always loud and boisterous. This one is expected to be extra loud and extra boisterous. Gary, thanks very much. Well be following. Coming up next, new reporting on the collision at sea involving a navy warship and the search for ten missing sailors going on right now. Lets see, there are the wildcats til we die weekenders. 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Two months ago, the uss fitzgerald hit a vessel off of japan, killing seven sailors, and the uss champagne hit a fishing ship in january another cruiser ran aground in tokyo bay. Bear in mind, ships like the uss john s. Mccain are Solar Systems that give them a preview of anything that is coming at them, which raises questions, starting with how do you miss a merchant ship or what happened . In a moment, what the navy is doing to try to fix the larger problems this string of mishaps may reveal. But first, jim sciutto has late word on what may have caused this particular collision. Jim, what are you hearing . Reporter a Navy Official is telling me that the crew lost steering. The simple ability to steer as it was entering these busy shipping lanes. And they this is crucial as well. They werent, for some reason, able to activate the backup steering system, which these advanced destroyers have. They dont know why they werent able to do that. It was only after the collision that the crew was able to regain steering again. It wasnt that they didnt see this ship, but they lost power. They lost the ability to steer out of the way of it. So equally concerning. This is the early part of the investigation, so theyre just beginning to see why that is. Was it a human error, a mechanical error . The steering, its not like you have a big screw that turns the screws. There are wires connecting it. So it could be anything along that series. Jim, thank you very much. More now on this sad string of incidents over the last few months and what the navy is trying to do about it. Michelle kaczynski joins me with that. The fourth time this year a u. S. Warship is involved in an incident. The navy has done a day freeze of activity . Even one of these accidents was shocking. I remember when the first one happened. Then theres another, another, another. Even setting aside this one, it could have been something mechanical, but there are big problems in the other three. The last one that just happened in june, the uss fitzgerald also there in asia, it turns out, even though the investigation isnt over, members of the crew made serious mistakes. So from that time, the navy has been looking at things more closely. But now with this latest accident, they want to do something much more. So theyre doing this operational pause so that every u. S. Fleet, every single ship across the u. S. Navy will take at least one day over the next couple of weeks. Its not as if the navy is going to shut down for one day. But each one of these groups is going to take that time to assess everything. Even the basics. How did they deal with safety procedures . How did people on the ships and the ground Work Together . And they also want to do a large scale review of the entire situation of the fleet. And that should include some mechanics. Cnn talked to a top naval analyst today. A former commander. One of his theories was pretty intriguing. He said it could be, you know, if they do find endemic problems, that there is such a reliance on all of this Great Technology on these magnificent ships, that that could lead to some complacency and the problems we saw just two months ago on the uss fitzgerald. Michelle, thank you for your reporting. Joining us now is retired rear admiral john kirby. Admiral kirby, to jim sciuttos reporting about the loss of steering, how does something, whether it is that or something else, how does Something Like this happen . If loss of steering was at play here, it could happen any number of ways. Maybe you lose power in that part of the ship. Maybe maintenance wasnt done properly on some piece of the steering gear. Maybe there was just some machines break, so something could happen. I just dont know. We just dont know enough right now. I myself, in one transit in the strait of hormuz in the late 80s, that guided missile frigate lost power and we couldnt move the rudder because there was no electric power to move it. This does happen. Its rare but it happens and it puts the ship and its crew in greater danger when it does. This idea of an operational pause, one commander told me that seems more like window dressing. Thats not a real solution. Thats just kind of a stop gap measure. I would disagree, and slightly agree. I disagree that its just window dressing. It is an important thing for the navy to take some time out, review procedures, look at the training manuals again. Make sure that the watch Standing Team and organization and certifications are all up to snuff and that the material readiness of every ship and squadron is up to snuff. Thats important stuff. That said, i do agree that this isnt going to solve all the problems. Thats why the cno, admiral richardson, didnt just put his eggs this that basket. He ordered a comprehensive review across the entire fleet in the pacific to try and make sure that if we do have a systemic problem here, if theres something deeper going on, if theres a thread to pull through all these incidents, that we find out what it is and try to eliminate it. Four collisions or groundings this year, is that just a coincidence . Or is it a possible indication of some sort of systemic training issue or overreliance on high tech . Yeah, we dont know. Its interesting that theyre all happening in the Forward Deployed naval forces, fdnf, which is the western Pacific Naval forces that are home ported there. Thats kind of interesting. All in one region, all of one force. I think theyre going to take a look at that. Thats why the cnos order was to take a comprehensive view of that and see if there is a systemic issue. Every incident has to be investigated on its own, and i suspect for each one, there were a number of individual factors that came together that created the problem. But when you have four like this, all of them ship handling related in some form or fashion, within about eight months, its the right thing to ask some tough questions. Is there something larger going on . Is it a leadership problem . Is it a training problem . Is it a funding problem . The navy has lived through a lot of fiscal uncertainty in the last few years. And navy leaders several years ago, you might remember, anderson, were warning that there could be real training performance problem it is the funding situation didnt get involved. Im not blaming this on budget. Im just saying theyre going to look at all of that. The bottom line, seven sailors killed the last time, ten missing tonight. Our thoughts and prayers with their families. Indeed. Admiral kirby, thank you. Up next, what to expect when President Trump makes an address to the nation and unveils his plans regarding afghanistan. Hes just arrived at the base near the pentagon where he will be speaking. Well take you there for the remarks that begin 18 minutes from now. More on that when we continue. No splashing wait so you got rid of verizon, just like that . Uhhuh. I switched to tmobile, kept my phoneeverything on it oh, they even paid it off wow yeah. Its nice that every bad decision doesnt have to be permenant ditch verizon. Keep your phone. Well even pay it off when you switch to americas best unlimited network. Juswho own them,ople every business is different. But every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. Whether it be help starting your business, vendor contracts or employment agreements. Legalzooms network of attorneys can help you every step of the way so you can focus on what you do. Well handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way. Legalzoom. 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If youd rather be home, ask your doctor about Neulasta Onpro. Megans smile is getting a lot because she uses act® mouthwash. Act® strengthens enamel, protects teeth from harmful acids, and helps prevent cavities. Go beyond brushing with act®. Were Just Moments Away from President Trumps primetime address to the nation. Hes just arrived at the venue where hes expected to unveil his new strategy for afghanistan. The battle there has stretched on there for nearly 16 years. The taliban controls more territory than it did just weeks after 9 11. Jake tapper is going to moderate a town hall after the address with paul ryan in racine, wisconsin. The president s going to speak soon at joint base Myer Henderson hall, not far from Arlington National cemetery. I want to check in again with athena jones who is there. Do we know any more about the plan the president is going to lay out in his speech . Reporter hi, anderson. We expect the president to talk not just about afghanistan but south asia as a region. We know the u. S. Wants to work bet we are neighboring countries like pakistan. The white house wants to see pakistan do more to fight terror networks. We also know theyve been developing a way to counter the growing iranian influence in afghanistan. So its possible we hear something about that. I can tell you that Vice President mike president was speak to the afghan president. Were still awaiting a readout of that call. And we know that secretary of state Rex Tillerson spoke earlier today with the leaders of afghanistan, pakistan, and india. And the state Department Spokesperson says the topic of those calls was how the United States would like to work with each country to stabilize south asia through a new, integrated regional strategy. So we expect to hear some focus on that. Secretary of state tillerson is set to be at tonights address. Athena, appreciate that. I want to bring in our panel now. General hurtling, i heard you say the u. S. Is at an Inflection Point in afghanistan. I would imagine theres been a number of Inflection Points in 16 years, but what are your expectations for this speech tonight, if it is a matter of a few thousand more troops. I was there in 2002 in may, and forces were Training Afghan national forces. We keep hearing, anderson, people talk about the afghan issue is that its different today than its ever been before, or this is a new way to approach it. There might be a little substance to that. It is a different time in afghanistan. The gani presidency has been good. The commanding general in charge over there with president gani has been a great relationship. Theyre doing things, although the taliban has taken hold again and they control about a third of the country. Heres the thing that when im specifically looking for in this speech tonight. The first thing is, does the president own it . And does he try to influence the American People . Were Just Moments Away from President Trumps primetime address to ot nas. The commander in chief just arrived at the venue where hes expected to unveil his new straty for afghanistan. The battle stretched on for nearly 16 years. The taliban controls more territory. Shortly after the president s address, jake tapper will host a town hall with paul ryan. The president s address, and covering other issues impacting the event right now. Athena. Will this strategy bring the taliban to the table . I think they are ready to come to the table with the afghan regime. But they havent wanted to in the past because they felt the United States was leaving. The third thing, something that is important we learned from iraq, is are the forces inserted going to focus on a Counterterrorism Campaign . In other words, train the afghan counterterrorism force, as opposed to the entire army. We saw successes with that in iraq. There could be the same things going on with afghanistan. Peter burger, you and i spent time in afghan stab together. It seems that the forces that had successes. But in terms of training the Afghan National army, the National Police force, it seems like theres been a lot of talk about that and a lot of money put into it. And still, the same problems seem to exist, year after year after year. The afghan common doandos int 20,000, are fighting and dyindy. Just to add to what hurtling said, is a line from people inside the Trump Administration, which is the biggest criticism of the Obama Administration, was the fact that when president obama announced the surge of troops in afghanistan in 2009, he announced the withdrawal date. And you and i at cnn reporting this on the time. And the crawl on cnn before the speech was delivered, was the withdrawal date. The news became the withdrawal date, not the surge. And that affected the calculations. One thing i would expect out of this out of tonight is that, President Trump will not make some kind of announcement about a date of is certain withdrawal. When you talk to village elders in villages in small little villages in afghanistan, which, you know, with the marines in Helmand Province and elsewhere, they say, were on the fence because were not sure how long americas commitment is. I imagine its still an argument how long the commitment is. President trump early on has been saying, we need to pull out. How long are we going to be there . Time and numbers, certainly theres great fear there. Ive run into the same thing, when you talk to the village elders, students, men and women, they have the fear, will america walk away again. Thats a fair question. But the numbers are really key here as well. If youre talking about going from 8,400 troops that you have now to adding 4,000 or so, thats a 50 increase, but when you look at where troop levels have been in the past, in 2011 it peaked at 100,000 troops. President obama, when he had his surge, it had the time limited, that was a surge in the tens of thousands. I remember being embedded with marines in Helmand Province when they had 30,000 troops and the marines were telling me, we dont have nearly enough people to cover this. Look over on that hill over there, the taliban control that hill, right near and overlooking our base. So if youre adding 4,000, the mission is different. How do you take back a third of the country from the taliban. Thats an open question. Also, i remember there was all this talk about not just the military, this will be a multipronged thing. The state department will flood the zone with state Department Personnel to essentially donation building, which has now been done which the u. S. Is not saying its being done, but done on the backs of our military, which are not necessarily the ones who should be having to do this alone without any backup from the state department. Thats right. I think many people in the American Military today, or people who are retired would say that there cant just be a military solution here. I think what many people are waiting to hear from trump tonight is what is that comprehensive strategy. Weve heard a little reference to reconciliation in that process with the taliban. That should be probably be a part of his speech to lay out a comprehensive strategy. What is the broader south asia strategy . How are you going to get these other countries engaged . What will be the difference . And in terms of what we do here, as the United States, the budgetary proposed cuts, the fact that tillerson and the Trump Administration have not fully staffed and put people in place. This is a place where we could really see an impact of that. Nick, you were just in Helmand Province, talking to the marine commanders on the ground. In all the years youve been there, theres always been talk, pakistan needs to help more. Most of their military is focused on the other border on india. And theres been complaints from u. S. Forces for years about, you know, militants crossing over the border in pakistan, the u. S. Cant pursue them. Its not clear to me how things can be different now that the administration is saying, well, were going to work closer with pakistan and get them to do more. I dont see how you can implement a regional strategy that suddenly changes the equations inside afghanistan. So the pakistanis recently did crack down on militants because they were feeling pressure from terror attacks. But theyve been accused of softening of as of late. It will always be a safe haven inside the border across in pakistan. The taliban increasingly hold the territory there. Theyre looking amongst the youth in afghanistan to compete for recruits from isis who are more extreme. The idea of them suddenly coming to the negotiating table is farfetched right now. Their leader, his son reportedly gave his own life in a suicide bombing in just the last month or so. This is extraordinarily hard line leadership, not looking to suddenly come to the table. Theyre winning, frankly, militarily. I think most people accept that at this stage. Even the shortterm gains. Dying at a rate of about 30 a day at the moment. The shortterm gains are often taken back by the taliban. It is a precarious situation, and one with no real original ideas left to play. During the Obama Administration, those tens of thousands of troops flooding the zone there, they brought trainers to the whole focus that the Obama Administration gave in their messaging, delivered at times that they were winning, they were getting those Security Forces ready. It simply wasnt the case. We saw ourselves again and again, once u. S. Backing disappeared, those forces simply crumbled. The idea that you can boost potentially trainers, or the number of people on the ground and assist in that training, and suddenly see a radical change in the potency of the afghan emergency forces, thats a little farfetched. I think what well see today is a lot of rhetoric that trump has tried to keep a distance for himself in the past, but also really a strategy thats perhaps just enough to perhaps keep the disaster of the taliban sweeping into major cities of afghanistan from happening. But not something thats going to radically change the map here. Because really, frankly, every idea has already been tried. And it hasnt worked. Theres a reason why, anderson. They call it the graveyard of empires. Mike, i want to play something that then candidate trump said in 2015 when asked about troop levels in afghanistan. Do you believe american boots should stay on the ground in afghanistan to stabilize the situation . I wouldnt totally disagree with it, except at some point, are they going to be there for the next 200 years . You know, whats going on. It will be a long time. We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. We had brilliant thinkers that didnt know what the hell they were doing, and its a mess. At this point you probably have to. Because that thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave. Just as i said that iraq was going to collapse after we leave. Again, that he later said he was talking about iraq. He didnt understand the question was about afghanistan. Mike, the president expected to ask americans to trust him on this new afghanistan strategy. I guess the question, theres questions about how much, i think jen made the point, how much is he going to own this, that this is about winning. You heard what he said as a candidate. He called it a mess. The u. S. Made a terrible mistake getting involved in the first place. Many of the trump voters like that he didnt want to ramp up engagement in overseas conflicts. Well, a lot of the trump voters liked that he was going to be strong, that he looked like he would be a candidate and hes proving as president that he would have a strong approach to these issues, whereas weve seen weakness from president obama. We dont know right now what our policy is in afghanistan. He inherited this situation. It was interesting hearing jen say hes got to lay out how hes going to handle southeast asia. I would challenge anybody to describe what our policy was that he inherited from the Obama Administration. What i find very interesting is nick saying, sort of oh, weve already tried everything. Theres a general on the ground there, nicholson, who doesnt believe that and who has a plan. The president s going to listen to him. I think youre seeing whats consistent from the campaign to whats going on now is the president has taken some time, he inherited the situation and hes now going to lay out his plan to be successful. It will be based on what the generals on the ground are telling him. It will show strength and it will show aggressiveness with our allies. I think thats a really important step for the country and for our success in afghanistan. General hurtling, he said nicholson had the support of masterson and mattis and others. In terms of those who are skeptical about why would anything be different now, if all the way back to 2002, there were special forceon