Really, to spend time with them and to and to do these interviews. People like General David portray it, General McChrystal General Dave MacKinnon. Dan McNeill, and so on it really extraordinary individuals who get to that level and I think they saw after 5 2006. When, uh there were many more combat troops and many more from, uh, NATO nations as well, um, from from that period in Afghanistan from Allied nations. Who would come in really for the peacebuilding operation, not a war fighting operation, and they they were a bit surprised by the scale of the war that they had to fight. And so it was during those years were really began to Ramp up. And then you have President Obama coming in in 2000 and nine, which is the crucial year the decision making in the Iraq war and everything that's happened, uh, put in the Afghan war. Everything that happened. In the first eight years was set in the end of 2000 and one Everything that happened after was set in 2009, but it's really two important years. President Obama came in as you'll remember wanting to close down Iraq, which he saw as a bad wars, man necessary war of choice. And to turn Afghanistan into what was called the good war. This was the war that there might be one and that the weapon that was used with countering certainty now counterinsurgency involved a lot of troops. And the question was, how many troops were the United States and its allies willing to put in and during 2009. The decisions took the whole year two. To decide. General Stan McChrystal when commanding in Afghanistan wanted at the top end 80,000 for a robust counterinsurgency. He got 30,000 less than half of what he wanted. And that was the That was all the way through When General put in their troop requisitions. Um they come back yet Tough down by the White House. They come back the plans would be limited. They'd be rewritten in some way that Restricted the capacity of military commanders to do the job that they thought they were doing in order to achieve the top that they've been set by the civilian leadership. Um And the other thing that happened in 2009, which was really significant in the years that followed was that there was also an exit. Um, timetable drawn into the number of troops, so it wasn't just troop numbers of troops that we're going to go in. It was the timetable under which they mature. So as soon as they were on the ground, the surge troops were effectively on their way out, and the Taliban knew that. And as he said, you know, they were the people who Had had, uh, seen off army before by just waiting them out saying that the Taliban supposed to have had that you may have time but you may have a watch, but we have the time. And that certainly happened. 20 years old the way that America Truong timetable and the Taliban literally took over the capital city. Five weeks later, BBC foreign correspondent David Loin, author of the new book, The Long War, the Inside Story of America and Afghanistan since 9 11, David, Thanks so much for coming on and sharing all of that reporting with us, we really appreciate it. Ryan. It's good to be with you. Thank you for your interest, All right, coming up. Next. I'm going to talk to the director of youth and young adults initiatives at NAMI the National Alliance on mental Illness because it's going to be another school year where things are a bit different for kids all across the country and mental health can be a big issue. Through all of this. We're going to have some mental health tips. For back to school coming up for you in just a few moments. Keep it here. Amazon.