Will u. S. Troop it is be forced to stay even longer in americas longest war . Secretary of state mike pompeo is here. Well break down the politics, smoke out the spin, the facts that matter this week. Announcer from abc news its this week. Here now chief anchor george stephanopoulos. Good morning. Welcome to this week. Our brand new poll with the Washington Post is just out. Heres what it says about the democratic race ahead of our abc debate thursday night. Joe biden Holding Steady in the lead with 27 of the vote. Bernie standers second with 19 and a rising Elizabeth Warren on his heels at 17 . Thats a 6 oint jump since july. Losing ground is Kamala Harris. Shes at 7 . Buttigieg, orourke under 6 . Thele the rest of the pack at 1 or less. Biden has a narrow edge of warren and sanders over who voters think would be the best president for the country. Defeating the President Trump is what most voters care about most right now. 50 are voting on who is most likely to beat trump. This far out, this race is far from settled. 50 of democrats say theyre open to shifting their support to another contender. Were going to dig into all this with tom perez and our round table. First breaking news from President Trump announcing he had canceled secret peace talks with the taliban because of an attack that killed an american on soldier. Wialfore than afghanistan. Resident trump suggested the deal is dead for now. If the taliban cant agree to a cease fire during these talks, they probably dont have the power to negotiate an agreement anyway. How many more years are they willing to fight. Thats one of many questions for secretary of state mike pompeo. Good morning, mr. Secretary. Good morning, george. Thanks for having me on. You said the peace talks were making progress. What happened between then and now . We made enormous progress working with the Afghanistan Government of National Unity as well as with the taliban. We had a number of objectives. The president s mission has been negotiate a resolution that has benefit for our men and women. George i was out at Dover Air Force base with berettos wife and two kids. He was a great man who was killed last week. We got to get it right so the terror can never strike again and at the same time reduce americas blood that weve given for two decades. We made progress. We had a commitment from the taliban saying they would break from al qaeda publicly and permanently. We had a commitment that they would reduce violence. George, you were in an administration that would try to get afghans to sit at the table. We had a commitment they would meet to begin reconciliation. Then the taliban overreached. They killed an american in an effort to gain leverage. President trump said enough. There have been periodic attacks throughout the talks. Why pull the plug on this one . In the past you said that was a reason to continue the talks. Its true. There have been attacks during the talks. Attacks from the taliban on americans and enormous attacks from the American Forces putting real pressure on the taliban. In the last ten days alone weve killed over 1,000 taliban. Its whats driven us to have the success at the negotiating table we were beginning to have. We reached a point where we were close. We made real progress. Then the taliban failed to live up to a series of commitments they made. When that happened, President Trump said im not going to take that deal and work with someone that cant deliver on their commitments. In the end, george, you know this, an agreement is just a piece of paper. We have to see that change in behavior. When we saw this action when we were closing in on a solution and closing in on opportunity for the president to meet with the Decision Makers that can deliver that reconciliation to the Afghan PeoplePresident Trump said thats enough. Were not going to reward that behavior and broke it off. Are the peace talks now dead as well and the ambassadors efforts dead as well . Hes coming home for now. I hope its the case the taliban will change their behavior and recommit to things weve talking about for months. In the end this will be resolved through a series of conversations. I hope the taliban agrees to meet with the afghan government. They say the jihad is going to continue. They just put out a statement. Well see. Americas capacity to protect our nation and terror from emanating from that place ever again, that effort will continue. The proposed deal had a withdrawal of more than 5,000 u. S. Troops. Does this collapse put any withdrawal on hold . The president hasnt made a decision on that yet. Well be talking about that in the coming days. President trump has been clear we spend over 30 billion a year in afghanistan. As you well know we have terror threats from lots of parts of the world, not just from afghanistan unfortunately. Frankly our soldiers have delivered. The crushing of al qaeda has occurring over the past two decade decades. Weve decimated their leadership. There are still challenges. Isis is there as well. President trump is going to focus with the secretary defense and theyll think about making sure we have the right force posture to protect america from terror threats everywhere they emanate from including afghanistan. We have to make a decision going forward. So its still possible the pullout will continue. Wont that increase the prospect that the taliban can gain strength and make this a standing ground for al qaeda again . Well never let that happen. So the troops will stay . We will conduct a mission in afghanistan in a way that reduces risk to the American People. The right number, the force posture, the nature of the forces, our continued train and assist mission for Afghan Forces so they can take the fight to the taliban so we can get the peace and reconciliation, those are the missions were setting out. The details of the right level of forces, President Trump, the secretary of defense will make good decisions. Im very confident in that. Meantime, the administration is taking some heat for considering have the taliban to camp david. A couple republican members of congress have said never should leaders of a terrorist organization that hasnt renounced 911 and continues evil will never be allowed to our great country. Elizabeth cheney said camp david is where americas leaders planned our response after al qaeda. What about the fact the president was wrong to have this meeting at camp david . I know both of those people and i appreciate their points. If youre going to negotiate peace, you have to deal with bad actors. I know the history of camp david too. President trump reflected on that. We all considered when we were debating to get to the right ultimate outcome. There have been discussions about war at camp david. There have been discussions about peace there as well. There have been some pretty bad actors travel through that place throughout recorded history. Its an important place. Its a place where we thought we could convince all the leaders of afghanistan as well as the taliban, we could convince them to head towards better conditions in afghanistan. Not only for the afghans, but better security for the American People as well. It was why the president was willing to go down that direction. Hes willing to take risks to do that. He was willing to do that in this case too until the taliban made this terrible decision. Let me ask you about iran. They have stepped up enrichment of uranium. They announced that on friday. This is what the cia predicted would happen after the joint pull out from the nuclear agreement. Is the president still willing to meet with the iranian president at u. N. General assemb assembly next month . George, i predicted if we stayed in the Iran Nuclear Deal that we were guaranteeing the ayatollah a pathway to a Nuclear Weapon system. Its why we broke away from the deal. Its now why we made irans economy a shambles. We think their economy could shrink as much as 10 in the next year. This denies their capacity to work on their missile program. Isnt that what theyre doing now . The terror attacks around the world increased under the jcpoa. The math is really very plain. Now hezbollah is struggling for resources. Iraq, same thing. This is the mission set were engaged in. We want to negotiate. President trump said he would meet with the president of iran. No preconditions, he said that repeatedly. We know how this must end. We dont want violence. We dont want war with iran. We want that revolutionary regime to stop its efforts around the war to put israel at risk, to put the American People at risk and to deliver National Security for the American People. Thats the outcome were looking for. Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon on President Trumps watch. Do you expect the meeting to happen . Couldnt tell you, george. Its up to the on north korea their Nuclear Program, the talks have stalled. North korea continues to test missiles. Are you concerned that kim jongun is stringing President Trump along . George, we took office with Nuclear Tests being conducted and longrange missile tests being conducted with too great of frequency. President trump and my team have been working to deliver on the promises that were made in singapore back in june of the year before. We know chairman kim has made the commitment to denuclearize. Were hopeful in the coming days or perhaps weeks well be back at the negotiating table with them. Thats the best outcome for the North Koreans. We know we can turn around that economy. The mission is to make sure that Nuclear Weapons inside north korea that have existed for a very long time george, you served in an administration where that Nuclear Stockpile grew as well. We have to make sure chairman kim honors the commitments he made to President Trump. President trump would be very disappointed if chairman kim doesnt return to the negotiating table or conducts missile tests that are inconsistent with the agreement they made. You put your finger on the problem. The North Koreans have continued their Nuclear Program through president clinton, president bush, president obama. They seem to continue it now. These shortterm missile tests are improving their program. Isnt that a violation of u. N. Security Council Resolutions . Chairman kims commitment to President Trump was pretty clear. He hasnt violated that. Were disappointed hes conducting the shortrange tests. We wish he would stop that. Our mission is to get back to the table to present a mechanism by which we can deliver. I know you share this objective. A full completely denuclearized and verified denuclearized north korea. I have to ask you a question on politics. You were in your home state of kansas on friday. I know Mitch Mcconnell has been pushing you to run for senate next year. If President Trump asks you to run, will you . I dont speculate on stuff like that. It was cool to be back home. I spoke as part of the landon lecture series. It was a prestigious set of speeches. It was neat to be able to go back home and do that. I said this repeatedly as long as President Trump wants me to be secretary of state ill do what ive been doing, focus on trying to deliver security for the American People. Thats my Mission Every day. Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us. Thank you, george. Coming up nate silver weighs in on whether the democratic primary is a threeway race. 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If youre poling in the low Single Digits right now, i have bad news for you. You are probably toast. According to our analysis in the past 40 years jimmy carter in 1976 was the only candidate to be polling at less than 5 and win the nomination. For Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg things are more viable. Harris has raised a fair amount of money. She has the second most endorsements in the field after joe biden. If biden were to lose support among black voters, she might capitalize. For buttigieg, he has a big war chest and strong favorability ratings. Dont forget john kerry and bill clinton polled similarly and came back to win. Theres no particular reason to expect voters to come running to candidates like booker or castro or beto or klobuchar if they havent so far. Do i find were down to a big three . Almost, but not quite. You have to include harris. Buttigieg may be not be in great shape, but still has room to grow. Lets call it four and a half. Thats nate. 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And lasts 12 hours. 12 hours . who studies that long . only mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs for 12 hours with 2 medicines in 1 pill. The dnc process is stifling debate at a time when we need it most. Were rewarding celebrity candidates with millions of twitter followers, billionaires who buy their way on to the debate stage and candidates who have been running for president for years. These rules have created exactly the wrong outcomes and will not help us beat donald trump. Thats senator Michael Bennett one of the democrats running for president who didnt meet the dncs criteria to make the debate on thursday. Criteria set by tom perez. Mr. Chairman thank you for joining us. Thank you. We saw nate silver and our abc news poll with the Washington Post. It appears that those top three candidates, joe biden, bernie sanders, Elizabeth Warren, are pulling away from the rest of the pack. Is that what you expected when you set the criteria for the debates . Its always been up to the voters. From the outset, george, we set transparent rules, set a far bar for people, communicated to the candidates so they know the rules of engagement for this debate coming up. Im looking forward to working together with abc. There were 21 polls that counted. You needed to get 2 in four of them. You had to bat a little under. 200 to get into this debate stage. Giving that opportunity is helpful. It will be up to the voters to decide who the candidate is. Our process has been the most fair, transparent, inclusive process in the history of a democratic primary. Im a big fan of Michael Bennett. I worked for him. I campaigned for him. Hes a great guy. Were reaching a point where voters are differentiating. Thats what its about. Candidates have to demonstrate progress as we get closer and closer to iowa and New Hampshire. Its very possible that next months debate will be back to two nights, correct . Well see. We set the debate threshold. You need to get to 2 in at least four polls. We will see. Your poll this morning wouldnt change what the makeup would be. We will see what other ones are. As we get to november and december, well continue to raise the bar of participation because thats what weve always done. As we get closer and closer, people have to make progress. 2 is a very reasonable bar. A lot of polls right now show several of the Democratic Candidates beating President Trump if the election were held today. A lot of democrats are concerned that if you dont win back the senate the agenda will be stalled even if democrats take back the white house. We saw John Hickenlooper leave the race and go run for senate in colorado. Should candidates do that if their campaigns dont take off soon . That will be up to those candidates to decide. Im bullish about the senate. I was in colorado this week. I think we have a great chance there with a wide field of candidates. Im bullish on mark kelly in arizona. Weve got opportunities in North Carolina where tillis is under water. In maine we have a really good field of candidates. Senator collins is vulnerable. We have opportunities in iowa, in montana and elsewhere. Im very bullish. The opportunity we have, george, in the senate and white house and state houses is that the republican the republicans are so off to the extreme and the democrats are fighting for the issues that people care about. Health care is still the number one issue in america. If you have a preexisting condition, its democrats who are on your side. 90 of the American People want background checks and moscow mitch went do it. You look at all the issues that matter, 80 of the American People want to help dreamers, but the republicans wont do it. Theyve become such an extreme party that we have opportunities in the senate and the house. The reason so many house members on the republican side are retiring is because they understand that their party has become so extreme. Im very optimistic about the white house and about the senate and state houses and expanding u. S. House. We saw Howard Schultz drop his independent bid for the white house this week. Some democrats are concerned that Tulsi Gabbard is considering a thirdparty run. She says shes ruled it out. Theres an argument that ralph nader in 2000 and jill stein in 2016 cost the democrats the white house. What do you do to stall the thirdparty run that could hurt the democrats . We have built a process thats fair and inclusive. I have Great Respect for Tulsi Gabbard. Shes won a spirited campaign. She has a lot of supporters. The reason why weve been so inclusive in what weve done and that resulted in 21 candidates in june and july. Its abundantly clear to me, all but one of our very deep and talented field, is not going to make it to the mountain top. My goal was to make sure every candidate who runs and their followers understand their candidate got a fair shake. So that at the end of the day were together, united around beating donald trump and implementing our vision of inclusion and opportunity. Im confident that congresswoman gabbard isnt going to run as a Third Party Candidate because she said so. Shes a talented part of the Democratic Party family. Everyone in the democratic family is going to come together in milwaukee and through the election. We understand its our democracy as we know it thats on the ballot. This is hurricane donald. Its a category 5 storm. In the eye of the storm is our democracy. We need to take our democracy back. All our candidates understand the gravity of the moment. They understand whoever wins theyll support the democrat. I appreciate what Howard Schultz did. He was a man of his word. He said if i cant win, im not going to run. I appreciate that. See you on thursday in houston. Look forward to it. Round table is up next. Thursday in houston. Look forward to it. Round table is up next. Were joined by Chris Christie the former governor of new jersey, the former mayor of chicago rahm emanuel, mary bruce and the editor of the National Review rich lowry. Lets talk about the debate. Its the first time well see joe biden flanked by Elizabeth Warren and bernie sanders. Who has the most to gain and most to lose . The debate gets close and personal. Everyone in the debate is going to have that bubble thats going to say jokers to the left of me. Clowns to the right. Im stuck in the middle with you. Thats going to be biden when he looked across the spectrum. I think it will get to the point where the candidates and the voters have a chance to measure people not on a split screen. Theyre going to see each other and take their temperature, take their character, lift the hood up, check the oil, check the tires. This is that process where its not on two nights. Single night. One stage. You get the measure of the candidates. We learned this and this was similar to the dynamic in 2016. The person taking the shot at the front runner doesnt benefit. No. Thats why theres the most pressure in this debate and the person under the most pressure is senator harris. She had a quick rise because she took a shot at biden. She recognized in the second debate if you do that, theres going to be incoming. Now shes in no mans land. You see it in the poll. Shes gone nowhere. Shes gone backwards since she had that moment. She has to figure out whats my strategy. Is it to go back at biden and reprise that or do i do Something Different . I think shes the person who has the most pressure on her because her donors are going to be looking at her saying are we going anywhere or arent we . We know biden, warren and sanders are solid. Theyll be in the race for a long time. Its who makes up the rest of the stage. Dont forget its still ten people up there. Its still a lot. Believe me ive been thinking about that. We used to assume eight minutes, eight minutes total is what youre going to get to speak. You better know what the hell you want to say. And you want the 30 seconds at the end. Yes. Thats a question for Elizabeth Warren. First time shes going to be facetoface with joe biden. First time for him. It will be interesting to see if they go after each other. They both, especially joe biden has been trying to rise above it. Hell counter punch if you come after him, but hes been directing fire at the President Trump. With warren having the successful summer will he be directing more attacks against her. To the governors point, you have people on the wings, who havent been on thegs everyone is gng to kind trto create a out moment. They ar ive been told by julio castros campaign that hes going to be focusing on the case that hes best positioned to draw on the socalled Obama Coalition to inspire younger voters, who joe bidens campaign admits theyre struggling with, to inspire voters of color who we know support joe biden, black voters. Theyre mostly older black voters. One of his aides told the New York Times hes going to have to go after one candidate. Castro . Yes. Yes. The one thing about Elizabeth Warren though thats interesting to me is she established herself through polling as a front runner, maybe on equal footing with joe biden. Other candidates havent figured out how to attack her. Th t comes out. It seemed like this week that mayor pete is saying he could go after joe biden or bernie and warren as well. Yes. Stakes are high for biden in any event like this. The question still is does he have the ability to match his electability. If you look at the polls the last four or five months, you see one thing happen. Elizabeth warren has risen. Does anyone else go after her . The biggest threat she represents is not to biden. Its to bernie sanders. They have this nonaggression pact that will eventually break down. I think it will break down, maybe not this week. How that plays out is going to affect the dynamic of this race. Heres what i think is wrong with our analysis. The person that goes after the voters rather than somebody else on stage is going to sign. Thats what Elizabeth Warren is signaling shes going to do. I participated it in a few minutes ago. I would like to have a reset. There will be a dynamic because candidates are saying theyre going to go after so and so. Theyre going to take one person. I think if you look at the polling, the person that appreciates, understands and puts themselves based on their history where the voters have lived their lives, thats the candidate that will shine. Not only in this debate, but in the long term. That was the problem with harris in the last debate. She came off like a onetrick pony because she went so hard after biden and didnt focus enough on her own policy. She missed the next morning. What she proved in the debate is she can deliver a punch and cant take a punch. If Elizabeth Warren is determined to tell her side of the story, will any of the candidates see shes doing well in iowa. She shined at the New HampshireDemocratic Convention yesterday. Will they do something to stop her momentum . Theyll try. You saw with booker he got generally good reviews with the way he went after Vice President biden and the way he carried himself. What did it amount to . Nothing. I agree with rahm, we make too much of these things. Break out moments harris had a break out moment, shes in Single Digits. Booker had a break out moment, shes at 1 this morning. Theres no moments that lasted. No. Buttigieg had a moment that led to a lot of fundraising. It hasnt led to sustained poli poling. I dont think thats been a debate issue. Because of the debates or what shes doing on the ground . I think both. When shes talking to folks at the rallies, shes not just proposing these big bold proposals, shes connecting them to lived experiences that connect with people on a personal level. Theres two Elizabeth Warrens. The Elizabeth Warren in oklahoma is unbelievably powerful. The Elizabeth Warren about policy is like were studying for a midterm every day. If she can do more oklahoma and what motivates her, thats a powerful person. Thats separate from the question is are those ideas shes putting out there taking the democrats out of the center . They are. Theres no question about that. They are taking the democrats out of the center. Thats the bigger problem. Thats why its going to come down to biden and warren. Its electability very purity. That happens on the republican ntil it was smashed by ge. President trump. When were out of power that happens all the time too. The risk you said which is appropriate and it measures up, health care is the single issue that democrats have a 35point advantage on. President trump is trying to do everything he can to narrow that down. Weve taken a position through the process about basically medicare for all which is well eliminate 150 million Peoples Health care and provide health care for people that come over the border. Thats untenable for the election. I just biked around lake michigan. It was nearly 1,000 miles nobody at a diner ido me esota. Take my health care away. Nobody. Theres qty to abithat biden is riding on or whether voters want somebody like warren that shakes up the whole system. Our poll shows theres this boost for biden because of the electability argument. The polls show theres a lot of potential movement here because biden has 23 that think he can be the best president. Theres one thing that will affect the electability argument. Who wins iowa and who wins New Hampshire . Elizabeth warren is out there on positions that are meant to cater to part of the primary electorate. If she wins iowa, that changes. I was in central pennsylvania and walked into a diner theres no diners in new jersey . Diners, we got i promise you. I could see you in a diner. It was three hours away and it was worth the drive. Lone. Now, you know, this was the only thing she said to me. She said thank you and walked away. Unsolicited. That part of pennsylvania is going to be key to whats going to happen in pennsylvania and if the president holds that coalition and wins pennsylvania this election is over. Did you respond and say but the president wants to repeal your health care with a replacement . No. I was ordering my omelette. I got to tell you the truth. I wasnt worried about that. It showed you what people are talking about. Im sending a crew to see if you tipped well. Im from jersey we always tip well. The key point is the president s budget is the largest cut in medicare by a president. Well talk about medicare for all in houston. Nobody mentions the fact that the president of the United States has a medicare cut for all. Thats his greatest vulnerability. He pledged in 2016 he would never touch medicare and medicaid. Thats what his budget did. The president told me in june he would have a new health careb onrning on the computer to see it. One of the things we saw is that constant talk about Hurricane Dorian and whether it would hit alabama. Alabama could even be in for at least some very strong winds and something more that than that. That was the original chart. You see it was going to hit not only florida but georgia, was going toward the gulf. Thats what was originally projected. That map that you put up today looked like it was a sharpie. I dont know. I dont know. I dont know. Chris christie, its entirely possible that first briefing the president had ten days ago said it might hit alabama. No question when he tweeted last sunday alabama is going to get hit harder than anticipated, thats flatly just not true. What i dont understand is sticking with it for seven days after that. What is that about . This president has shown over and over again that he believes that admitting mistakes is admitting weakness. I dont think its hard to understand to him people seem mystified by this. Im mystified by them. This is who the president of the United States is. Ive known him for crazy and the media focuses on this instead of what rahm was talking about or other issues, were talking about this before we talk about afghanistan. We led with afghanistan. My point is this is what lots of folks in the media talk about. Its a distraction. I dont think the president thinks the distraction is bad for him. Were talking about it because hes talking about it. He was relentless. Exactly. It wasnt just that he wouldnt let this go. He was deploying Government Resources to help in his argument. When youre facing a hurricane of significant consequence, you have to think about how much time and effort was spent defending the president s argument. Hes talking about it because youre talking about it. Its a circle that never ends. He never allows himself the escape route. It was old information. I revise my remarks. The media was analyzing this in a way that was completely absurd. It was lost the major story was a category 5 hurricane. We should not forget in addition to him not wanting to admit he was wrong is that President Trump loves being his own spokesman. Stephanie grisham who is the white house communication owdevices. S not held oneenp be hs oosing that. Thats right and we see his insecurities, his bias and this misinformation being given to the public because of him being his own spokesperson because thats what he wants. This is where the American People think all of us are crazy. We should stop this. You have kids dying with vaping. You have a Major Health Care crisis in the United States. You have a major rebuilding. Were obsessed. He is wrong. Full stop. Move on. I will also say thats who the American People elected. It wasnt like there were a ton of people talking for him in the 2016. He was. Thats part of what they love about him. Hes his best and his worse. Yes. This is the worst. He tells them what he thinks. Sometimes they agree and sometimes they dont. They love the fact that its never boring. Never boring. That gets to a big question. Does this hurt him, this fatigue . Yes. That same person in middle pennsylvania thinks given the economy that things are okay. They think hes worse than bad. They think hes driving the distraction. They see an opoid crisis. They see a vaping crisis. Theyre not heres the you bring up the opoid crisis. Look at what the president and the administration has done. I was chairman of the opoid commission. 1. 8 billion in grants went out to every state to deal with this issue. You have a 17 drop in overdose deaths. The president has been focusing on this. He did another event this week on it. Rahm, were talking about the sharpie. Its ridiculous. Im with you. For that voter who has seen her neighbho, r commuty devastated by this,idiculs and crisis is serious. It soaks the oxygen out of other conversations and takes conversations away from the democrats. They were having a conversation about their plans on Climate Change and the president is able to keep focus on him. Thats my point, mary. If you think this is accidental, its not. It combines both. He likes to fight back. Thats impulsive. When he sees you react to it, it drowns out Climate Change, the hurricane and everything else. Hes willing to live with that. Why . Because hes president. The question is does it help him. You said the American People love he does this. Right now hes stuck at around 40 . Theres got to be an opportunity lost. It hurts in the suburbs. Suburban republican women have voters is imrtant toheprident. Hes overstaying their welcome. The pennsylvania voter is not alone. Voters in rural parts of the midwest they talk about this fatigue over and over. They feel hes chaotic and tweeting all the time. They feel like hes not addressing issues they care about, a Social Security plan, health care plan, opoid crisis. They feel the president is not talking about the issues they care about. Instead of talking about things like that, hes talking about the sharpie. Let me tell you why that makes no difference. Theyre voting. It makes no difference to him and to 2020. Right now you can analyze the president in a vacuum. When it becomes a binary choice and we have Elizabeth Warren with medicare for all and huge new taxes, theyll look at donald trump and say i may be exhausted, but my wallet isnt exhausted and im going to vote for him. Two things. I dont agree with you, chris. When it comes to the binary choice, the fact is his exhaustion level is taking them to where they cant take four mo the suburban voters that left are exhausted. Theyre not going to come back. You can see it in the poll. Yes. Would biden be a great president . Probably not. Can he get elected . Yes. Thats probably whats driving his campaign. I want to talk about afghanistan. I was struck, mary, that secretary pompeo didnt say the collapse of the peace talks would necessarily stop the president s plans to withdraw troops from afghanistan. Yeah. There are a lot of questions about what comes next. The president put this out there and its unclear what is the next move, what comes after this. Is this the end of the peace talks . There will be a lot of questions on capitol hill tomorrow. Announcements never mean its the end of anything. This guy is a public negotiator. Thats what he did in korea. Thats what hes done in china. I think the bigger question hes taking cha as a guy who was a prosecutor post 9 11 and understands this as a terrorism fight weve forgotten that a little bit. I dont think its tenable to withdraw troops without having some kind of agreement. Yet we watched the administration rahm was a part of and an administration that started this, no one has the answer. You have to put this in the context of donald trump. The iranians said were not talking to you. North korea, nothing has come from that. Here you have another break down of every process. The fact is he leaves more carnage and damage then when you started. One thing we have to figure out is why were the talks first point on the schedule and why were they canceled. As i pointed out to secretary pompeo, there were taliban attacks all throughout the process. Ambassador bolton has been against this peace agreement. There must be a lot going on behind the scenes. Yes. I think going down makes sense and i think everyone in the white house agrees 8,600 is going to 0, that would be a huge mistake. Having the taliban to camp david, maybe you need to talk to them, but you dont need to do that. It goes to his instincts and the theater of it. Thats a gesture that would grab the headlines and the news coverage. You shouldnt have a group thats trying to kill americans. He has been willing to take that heat in the past. That speaks to his negotiating style. He takes this maximalist approach as the initial negotiating strategy and always was it back or they unfold from that point. Because hes so used to negotiating in that style hes used to the heat that comes with that and he says well figure it out in two weeks. One of my sons best friends is an army ranger deployed to afghanistan. He was just deployed two months ago. I talked to his parents this week. What they dont want is to think their sons presence is useless and meaningless. They dont want to see us back away. Even though their son is at risk, they dont want us to back away from making sure the country is not attacked again. Do you think thats what the president feels . I think thats where he is. I talked to him this week about it. I think he is there. He sees 18 years of this and nothing has worked. Hes trying to find a third way. I credit him for that. We have to keep in mind that soldier and his family. They want a meaningful role. Important place for us to end. Thank you very much. Great discussion. We for thursdays debate. Tune in at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on abc. You see the stage. Thats all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. Ill see you tomorrow on gma. Up next, more drama for the raiders. The latest on Antonio Browns fight, apology, and departure from the team. Plus why rebuilding one sfo runway is causing hundreds of delays and cancellation. A look outside fromyv le, l today, breezy out there, sunshine. 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