taliban today. we had a good conversation. we've agreed there's no violence. we don't want violence. we'll see what happens. they're dealing with afghanistan, but we'll see what happens. the relationship is very good that i have with the mullah, and we had a good, long conversation today. you know, they want to cease the violence. >> that was back in march of 2020, but clearly the violence never ended. was giving baradar this kind of credibility a big mistake? >> i think that baradar had the credibility to negotiate on behalf of the taliban. the problem was that he never actually guaranteed or even suggested that he was prepared to reduce violence. the trump administration negotiators tried really hard for a year to get the taliban to agree to a cease-fire, to get them to agree to negotiate with the afghan government. but they didn't get very far. the only thing they got them to agree to was to give the americans safe passage on the