and vowed to continue trying to kill americans. and so my overriding goal is to dismantle the al qaeda network. to destroy their capacity, to inflict harm, not just on us but people of all faiths and all nationalities all around the world and that is our overriding focus. stability in afghanistan and in pakistan are critical to that mission. and after several years of drift in afghanistan, we now find ourselves in a situation in which you have strong commitments from the coalition, our nato allies, all of them are committed to making this work. but i think there is recognition that after that many years adrift, it is important that we