number of people that have to be taken out. it's a big problem because people are coming in thousands and there's a long jam but there's an exit point. at one point there was no exit either. you had people rejected, where the people who hadn't been rejected were staying. we were talking to a state department person who's working on the ground here. we heard these figures of 20, 30,000 americans and people who have a right to go to the united states being sort of the figure that was being worked on. the real figure we believe is actually nearer to 150,000 people minimum. that is an absolute huge task. there simply has to be an extension. and it really is going to come down to a discussion between the united states and the taliban as to whether that extension will happen. >> let's bring in the president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass and u.s. national editor at the financial times ed luce. good to have you both.