operating for three years because of the taliban. we talked to some of these same villager villagers at this meeting, and they said, look, two hours after you leave, the taliban are going to be here and they're probably going to burn all these presents we're getting today, like these thick wool blankets we're getting. just a half hour within leaving that meeting, we began getting shelled by mortars from taliban positions in the mountains. that was an indication to me that in this part of the country, at least, in the east where pakistan is right across the border is very overtly supplying and funding this taliban, that's never going to change. this is going to be a hot spot that simply is not going to be resolved by anything we're doing now. as i said before, i think the best hope is that you can contain the -- you know, the war to that portion of the country while the rest of it begins to stabilize. >> and just to be clear, the portion you're referring to is that eastern afghani-pakistani