s. withdrawal and precipitated the current crisis. worse for jen stoughton berg, the secretary general himself, he'd always said that if they were to be a withdrawal, it would be carefully managed. it would happen based on conditions on the ground that would allow it. of course, in the end, the absolute opposite of that happened, nato, forced to withdraw because the european allies decided they couldn't stick it without us support. so we heard from a pretty somber sounding gens store, but frankly, taking stock of the current situation. he said, look, we always knew that was a risk that the taliban would return to seize power. but nobody expected the swift and southern collapse of the african to security forces. he said there would be lessons to be learned. there was a need for a clear eyed assessment after the evacuation. the immediate emergency period has passed, but he did appear to pin the blame on the failure of africa and leadership. he said to stand up to the taliban, he went on to say, we never intended to stay forever. he talked up some of the successes of the last 20 years, he