is essential the final moment of the last 20 years. >> nick paton walsh, stay safe, my friend. let's bring in a former special deputy representative for afghanistan, for the united nations. mr. ambassador, thanks for joining us today. i want to play a moment at the pentagon briefing today, the press secretary there was asked about this effort to get americans out of afghanistan in the next few weeks. take a listen. >> a mission that we've been given, tom, is to conduct this drawdown by the 31st of august. >> you could continue into september, couldn't you? >> that's a decision that the president commander in chief would have to make. our mission right now, we have to talk about what we're doing now, tom, and what our focus is. and that's on getting this completed by the 31st of august. >> beyond the issue of a continued u.s. presence in afghanistan, i'm sure you see a way that this exit could've been