tonight? i think so. that s what we re hearing and i think they re anxiously awaiting that. not only committed a lot of troops to afghanistan. we have the highest, one of the highest percentage of veterans per capita in the united states. so, veterans issues, military issue is very important here. doug, let me ask you this. i had a chance to sit down with angus king, you ll see it later in the show. i talked to him about afghanistan. if the president puts more troops on the ground, would you support that? he said depends on what they re there to do. the best option for u.s. force physical we end up increasing the number of americans on the ground in afghanistan. depends on whether we have a short term or a long-term focus. if the intent is just to remove those groups that are a clear and present danger to the united states, then it is the counterterrorism option we ve been talking about. putting u.s. troops against isis in afghanistan. if it s about setting up afghanistan as a pl
with a lot of resources and can t get out. if you re prepared to accept some limits on what you will accept at the end game, if you want to have a lower degree of confidence that problems will recure, if you re prepared to accept counterterrorism as an ongoing struggle rather than pure peace, you might be able to get away with less. wanting to get out isn t really enough. what about this counterterrorism option, if we were to scale back our ambitions, danielle, do you buy the idea that you could have 30,000 troops in afghanistan, play whan-a-mole with the terrorists? that s the yes, is it going to be from a few thousand miles away in garcia and what if they move? it s not an effective way to fight terrorism. i don t think this is a workable notion for afghanistan for right now. i m always struck by the fact
you can t get out. if you re prepared to accept some limits on what you will accept at the end game, if you want to have a lower degree of confidence that problems will recur, if you re prepared to accept counterterrorism as an ongoing struggle rather than pure peace, you might be able to get away with a little less. but i think we ll be there for a lot longer than people think, because wanting to get out really isn t enough. what about this counterterrorism option, if we were to scale back our ambitions, danielle, do you buy the idea that you could have 30,000 troops in afghanistan, play whack-a-mole with the terrorists? that s really what it is, it s whack-a-mole, and you have to ask the question, where are we going to play from, from bunkers where we hunker down, or a few thousand miles away in deago garcia, what if they move?