More robust counterterrorism presence. and, of course, there remains the big question of our relationship with pakistan, which over decades has helped to foster and support the resurgence of the taliban. so, you know, this is a nuclear armed nation, hundreds of millions of people. i cannot tell you today what our policy is towards pakistan, but that s key to any regional questions around, you know, dealing even with counterterrorism threat that might emerge in a taliban-controlled afghanistan. certainly, susan glasser, always good to have you here. appreciate the insight. thank you. in less than an hour, polls open in california and voters there set to decide whether they want to keep governor gavin newsom. president biden even showing up to help boost his support. we re going to take you there live. plus, a cnn exclusive this morning. data shows black and hispanic americans are missing out on covid testing and vaccinations while likely to be hospitalized and die from the virus.
Taliban wanted us out, so let s talk straight negotiating. they wanted us out. we wanted to maintain some sort of counterterrorism presence there. the idea was force the ghani government into negotiations with the taliban, then use their traditional huge gathering of afghan leadership that then establishes a new form of government, use that and then there s a new government established. obviously the afghan government would have limited participation in that, but they d still be a coalition. it would be an interim government that then we would have the opportunity to further negotiate with. so the taliban would go away, the afghan government would go away, there s now a new government that our previous agreements are no longer applicable so now you have a new government to negotiate with. that was our intention. i hear it. and again for the audience in case they re just tuning in right now, chris miller was the former acting defense secretary under president trump but he wasn t at th
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.
Withdrawal could not be more incompetent. it could not be more poorly planned and the callousness from president biden the way he responds to this, he and his press secretary just keep saying over and over again he does not regret his decision. either member pretty well in the fall of, i think it was 19 whenever president trump made the decision on syria and he received a ton of blowback. he was able to work with his team and kept a modest force in syria that was a counterterrorism presence. what we are seeing now is the incompetence of this withdrawal plan. but president biden won t even make it to 9/11, the anniversary date when he was opposed to have all u.s. forces removed. we are going to be fleeing with her tail between her legs before he reached the 20 we will be turning afghanistan back to the taliban were refounded. 20 years ago. feelings of dollars spent, 20
About 4,000 u.s. troops from afghanistan. the announcement could come as early as this week, and it would bring the number of u.s. troops down to between eight and nine thousand in country. a drawdown would also come as the trump administration restarts peace talks with the taliban. cnn s pentagon reporter ryan brown is with me now. ryan, the taliban leader said today this drawdown would be a good step. they obviously see it as a concession to them. what happens next? it s interesting, martin, for some time the trump administration, trump himself, has been talking about bringing the number of u.s. troops down. in fact, in august he told fox news that he wanted to bring the number down to 8600 u.s. troops there. there is about 12 to 13,000 troops there now. again, hard to say what is motivating the timing of this announcement. you know, the president has long complained about the u.s. presence in afghanistan but he says it s necessary to maintain a counterterrorism presence. we re bei