as ambassador crocker said, this started with president trump's deal with the taliban in february 2020. president biden obviously wanted to carry that through and insisted on it. the things that could have gone differently is, number one, they could have chosen not to make this announcement, to insist on withdrawal -- by this i mean the biden administration -- in april. they made that announcement in april, right before what's known as the "fighting season" in afghanistan. it's a horrible term for basically -- jargon that means fighting increases often during the hotter months, and during the winter months the taliban in particular retreat to their homes. they are often in pakistan, which is an important point i feel a lot of people aren't talking about. so that announcement didn't need to happen in april, the withdrawal didn't need to happen so quickly during the fighting months. one of the things that i wish has been explored a bit further is why a mission that was not an active combat deployment wasn't explored more.