Discusses the administrations move to hold families indefinitely. Take your we will calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter as well. Washington journal is next. Host reports indicate the u. S. Is very close to a deal with the taliban to withdrawal american troops from afghanistan. Ending our 18year military presence there and fulfilling a key 2016 Campaign Promise of president donald trump. Good morning, welcome to washington journal for this wednesday, september 4, 2019. Well start the program asking about that and heres how we are going to separate the lines. If you are an Afghanistan War veteran that line is 2027488000. And for all others, please use 2027488001. Everyone welcome to post your thoughts on facebook, facebook. Com slash cspan and a tweet cspanwj. The news that came out yesterday could be affected by reports of further violence by the taliban. This is an a. P. Report posted online at Washington Times. Com. Afghan government raises new concerns about u. S. Taliban deal. The Associated Press story says the government wednesday expressed new concerns about a deal that a u. S. Envoy, has been reached in principal with the taliban on ending americas longest war. Asking for clarifications about the agreement and risks to avoid unmolestant consequences the statement by president ial spokesman in afghanistan shares the concerns raised by several former u. S. Ambassadors to afghanistan. The former ambassadors joint statement on tuesday warned a full u. S. Troop withdrawal that moves too quickly and without requiring the taliban to meet certain conditions such as reducing violence could lead to a total civil war. Wanted to bring you katie, National Security reporter for defense one. Defense one. Com. Tell us about, first of all, the scope of this proposed deal being negotiated with the taliban. Guest right now what we know for certain is that azad has negotiated what we know is an agreement in principle with the taliban that will bring home about 5,400 troops, u. S. Troops from afghanistan in a little less than the next 200 days. But of course there are still about 8,600 u. S. Troops in the country. So there is a lot of questions over when those troops are going to come home. What that timeline will look like. And what the conditions are going to be for their return. There is no formal ceasefire with the taliban that is part of this agreement in principle as we understand the draft described by local afghan news outlets on monday. Thats being left up to negotiations that are expected to take place directly in between the taliban and the u. S. Backed Afghan Government in kabul. Host i just read that story on the Associated Press with some concerns expressed by some former u. S. Ambassadors to afghanistan dont have that in front of me. But whats their concern over this proposed deal . What have you heard . Guest one of the big fears that you hear from a lot of folks in the Security Community and Diplomatic Community is that if u. S. Withdrawals too quickly, particularly amid some of the escalating violence we have seen in afghanistan just over the last few days, that its going to do two things. Number one, its going to potentially open up the path for taliban to just overrun the country. That this is going to devolve into a fullscale civil war. One of the things we have heard consistently from pentagon officials over the taliban to j years is that the Afghan Security forces are not prepared to hold back the taliban themselves without the kind of u. S. Support that they have been receiving. And then the other concern that i think you hear quite a bit is that there is a possibility for the kind of chaos that any kind of civil war might create in afghanistan for groups like isis which already has a small foothold in the country to have to be able to sort of use afghanistan as a haven and grow their own strength there. Host the headline this morning at defense one. Com. Taliban kill 16, wound 119 as u. S. Peace deal nears. Now to the political side of this. We mentioned this was a Campaign Pledge of president donald trump. Many Democratic Candidates in 2016. And into 2020. Has the president been actively pushing this deal with khalil . Whats his role been . Guest the president has made no secret since his days of campaign that hes anxious to bring troops home from afghanistan. Thats one of the things you are seeing cause a lot of public mistrust of this deal. Up until this week we didnt know a lot about the details of this Draft Agreement. In fact, we still dont. And i think one of the things that you are seeing here domestically is there is a lot of folks in the security commute very concerned that President Trumps obvious anxiousness to get out of afghanistan is going to lead to a premature deal that might allow for might be bringing u. S. Troops home before the companies on the ground are such that we can prevent another kind of wide scale terrorist attacks on u. S. Interest, particularly on the homeland like we saw on 9 11. Host Katie Bo Williams is National Security correspondentant on defense one. Read more at defense one. Com. Thanks for the update. Our topic this morning, the first hour, is that proposed deal with the taliban in afghanistan. Our lines 2027488000. For those of you who are afghan veterans, and 2027488001 for everyone else. Todd in brentwood, california. Good morning, go ahead. Caller hi. I think its good to get out of afghanistan. Unlike your correspondentant there, miss williams, who i guess she wants to see more u. S. Involvement overseas, afghanistan was always from the start obamas war. He campaigned in 2007 and 2008 that afghanistan was the right war. Iraq was the wrong war. The 9 11 attack came from afghanistan and not iraq. And he escalated over there to the tune of was it 100,000 in 2009 after all the dithering, do you remember . We are not the worlds police men. Cant win over there. We shouldnt be involved in nation building. Trump administrationp campaigned from the beginning and not getting involved overseas in iolence. Host let me ask you, if the deal goes through and u. S. Forces are withdrawn from afghanistan, what about some of those concerns that former ambassadors have raised about the continued presence of groups like al qaeda, possibly, in afghanistan . Or even isis . Caller thank you. Overseas adventures, nation building, the u. S. Host aim asking you your opinion now. Caller the neon con. Thats funny. Cspan has really changed. You have turned into cnn. Host well go to edward who is in clear water, florida, your thoughts this morning . Caller my thoughts is that if they take the taliban out, they are only going to regroup, they are going to attack us again. Just like they killed 16 people over there. I was in vietnam. I know they are going to just keep doing what they are doing. They have to get rid of them or do something with them. Make a contract with them. They it cannot attack us anymore. We are fed up with this stuff. Government is not doing the right thing by taking them out. Im telling you they are going to come back and attack us again. They are going to do something. Its wrong. I know for a fact that thats whats going to happen. Donald trump, i think hes doing a good job, but i think hes got to watch i think he better make a trade with china so we can get back to normal. I like trump but i dont like some of the things he says. Then again hes not really a bad guy. Thats just my opinion. Go with it or flow with it. You see what happens. Host our line for afghanistan vets is 2027488000. To look at the figures. Total figures of u. S. Casualties from the Defense Department through august 28, the u. S. Military casualties total deaths, including d. O. D. Civilian casualties, 4,432 killed in action. 3,490. Thats the latest from the department of defense. Overall from the state department and Defense Department there have been 14 ,000 people totally involved. Now totally involved in two missions in afghanistan. One is a bilateral Counterterrorism Mission with Afghan Forces. The other provides training and assistance to Afghan National defense and security forces. And we talked about momentarily the just a moment ago the casualty in afghanistan for the over the past 18 years. Erics in seattle. Good morning. Your thoughts . Aller good morning. Donald trump and his administration, if you really look at it, they are weak. Any country that stands up in a fight with them and let them know you are going into a fight they are going to back down. Back down from north korea, or iran, and any country. When democrats in office all they do is talk about war, war, war. Look how they totally changed their philosophy. They are so weak. They dont want to fight nobody. Anything that donald trump says they go alongterm with. Im just talking about, you know, the facts of the situation. Just look at it. Hes supposed to be a front man, a bully. Hes not a bully. Any time he gets bullied, he does what Neville Chamberlain d. Hes weak. The republicans, all they do when democrats argue about going to war, being strong, being strong, now look at them. All of them is mute. You cant get nothing out of them. What they are allowing is china. Afghanistan is rich in minerals. And opium. What they are allowing china to do is get all the lithium that these batteries are made up. China has been over there developing the country. Host eric, let me ask you. Should we be in afghanistan at some military presence in afghanistan or not . Caller yes. We should be in afghanistan because afghanistan is the one who attacked america. And kill more americans than anybody. If we should be anywhere forever it should be a crew in afghanistan. Letting the country know any time you attack america, you are going to pay for t look at the republicans how weak they are now. When obama was in office, hes weak, he wont do this. Cross the line. Kim jong il has crossed the line. They are putting this country in jeopardy. By pulling out of afghanistan the taliban has not given up. They are not surrendering. The United States have not won anything. They have lost. If the taliban run them out, they say thats whats going on, trump does nothing. They could pay trump money to leave. Host we are talking money this morning about the proposal deal. Not official yet. News broke yesterday about the potential of it. As khalil, the representative of the u. S. , negotiating with representatives of the taliban and some nine or 10 meetings. This is from the Washington Post this morning some of the complications facing the deal. Afghans urge closure of foreign compound after taliban bomb kills civilians. Hups of protestors gathered outside a compound housing foreign nationals on tuesday. Calling for it to be shut down just hours after a bomb targeting the facility killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 100 others. The powerful tractor bomb exploded around 10 00 p. M. Monday outside the green village, a large compound in eastern kabul where a number of International Organizations are based. The blast came even as the top u. S. Negotiator in peace talks with the taliban appeared on Afghan Television and said u. S. And taliban officials had reached a Draft Agreement in for instance. The attacks reig site knighted 2350ers in a taliban violence against civilians is on the the gentleman is recognized rise despite the announcement. According to the Draft Agreement, that khalils described on monday, 5,400 u. S. Troops would exit afghanistan within about five months after the deal is signed. Rob is in port crane, new york. Good morning, rob. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I think we need i dont want to echo your other callers. I agree that we should not be the policemen of the world. Here in new york state our roads are in such crappy shape and its all because we dont have any money. Well, we would have money if we quit interfering and throwing trillions of dollars at bombs and other people that dont agree with us. I think we need a whole new strategy in this country. We need to go back to having a department of war, call it what it is. Not a department of defense. They are not defending anything. Ost the lines are 2027488000, after f afghanistan veterans. 20274 8001 for everyone else. The outgoing chairman of the chairmans of staff is dunn frye was asked about u. S. Forces in afghanistan. Heres what he said. In the current environment, current environment today, the level of violence asocial with the insurgency we and the afghans agree some degree of support is necessary. Thats why we have forces on the ground inside afghanistan today. Again, i want to make sure when i spoke about afghanistan securing itself in the future, i was very clear, im not affixing a time horizon to that or specific conditions. I was just answering a question. Right now its our judgment that the afghans need support to deal with the level of violence that is associate with the insurgency today. If an agreement happens in the future, if the security environment changes, then obviously our posture may adjust. Much more than monetary support. Thats right. Thats the level of support we are providing today. One thing im sure, based on even since my time in afghanistan, many of you recall we had 140,000 Coalition Forces when i arrived in 2013. Out 15,000, or 22000 total coalition and u. S. Forces today. Significantly different. The one thing im sure of in the future our posture will adjust. Host find all of that briefing online at cspan. Org. Search pentagon briefing. Twitter cspanwj is how you weigh in. We should get out but not look fearful like we are retretting with trump scared of losing elections. What happened to we have to take the oil . This one says i cant believe we were in afghanistan almost 20 years and in the end we werent able to dislodge the taliban. The cost in human lives is unacceptable. The cost in literal money will never be paid off in my lifetime. Robert says this, women will be back in their burqas again with the taliban in charge. On that theme this is the opinion of former secretary of state Madeleine Albright the Financial Times this morning. Peace must not return afghanistan to the dark ages. She writes there is broad hope in afghanistan and around the world that these talks will result in a lasting settlement. But this hope is cuppled with concern about the price of peace. Many fear with good reason that the return of the taliban could threaten the progress made by women over two decades to secure equal rights to education, employment, and political participation. Also at risk are the Democratic Institutions and practices the afghans have put into place since the taliban were overthrown after the 9 11 attacks. Under the taliban rule, she writes, girls above the age of 8 were barred from schools and women were banned from working and forcibly confined to their homes. In public women had to be completely shrouded and not permitted to speak above a whisper. They were punished severely for any semblance of independent conduct. As u. S. Secretary of state i heard multiple accounts of such brutal treatment from afghan women refugees who had fled to pakistan. I called the talibans behavior then despicable. The question is have they changed . All that is at the Financial Times. Hear from carlos in rice lake, wisconsin. Welcome. Caller hello. I dont think that the taliban as a terrorist organization not the formal government of afghanistan. I dont know how we could negotiate a peace treaty or a cessation of alliance with an organization that is a terrorist agency not a formal government. I dont know that afghanistan has a formal government. Host decatur, georgia. Good morning. Caller interesting subject. I think we should pull out of afghanistan. We should never have been there in the first place, i dont think. In fact, afghanistans nickname is the graveyard of empires. I suggest everybody should read president eisenhowers great speech, the cross of iron, about not becoming a military industrial complex. Do you realize we have been in 75 wars in 243 years . He was talking about how the military takes all these wars take away from everything else, like your one gentleman was talking about roads, hospitals. Health care. Thats what we have become. A military industrial complex. President eisenhower warned us against that. We didnt listen. Thank you. Host we hear from michigan, brians there, good morning. What are your thoughts about the u. S. Potential deal for the u. S. Withdrawing from afghanistan . Caller i hope it works. Im afraid its only temporary because i dont know how many countries we are bombing over there, i think it was eight last they counted. How do you deal with the i dont know if you want to call it islamic, muslim, or middle eastern population. There is no industry, whatsoever, other than oil. The way muhammad was able to get a violent, angry work force army force was to have them interfamily marriage for the last 500 years. And now we are to the point where theres so many so much inbreeding in the that part of the country that they are just 30 of the population is just violent, period. Ook at sweden. They are just violent people, they have to stop inbreeding. Host brian in michigan. Our question this morning about the proposed deal in afghanistan withdrawing troops. If you are an afghanistan vet that line 2027488000. All others 2027488001. Another story we are keeping a close eye on, covering it this morning. Brexit p. M. In a new battle after commons defeat. This is from the bbc. They write the p. M. Has said, Prime Minister boris johnson, will not accept another brexit delay. But a bill forcing him to seek extension if there is no deal is set to be approved by members of parliament. He needs 2 3 of m. P. s to trigger an election. Labor and other parties wont back it at this stage. The decision to expel 21 torrey rebels has caused recriminations in the