keating and four other outposts were not worth the effort and not safe to defend. why was it so dangerous? >> a number of reasons. one, you're in low ground and you're surrounded on 360 degrees by dominating terrain. i don't mean just a little bit, but it's completely dominating. so your capability to defend yourself is really limited. when you're leaving the base, you're under continuous observation 24 hours a day. there's no way you can leave with any operational security. >> brown, among others, made the case directly to general stanley mcchrystal, commander of all u.s. troops in afghanistan. >> and he certainly agreed that they were -- it was a tactical problem. they were costly and risky. >> but at the time, afghan president hamid karzai was running for re-election. abandoning cop keating might have been interpreted as a lack of american support. so mcchrystal kept the outpost