war is kathy gannon, senior correspondent for pakistan and afghanistan at the associated press. thanks for joining us. now, how close are we to having an agreement where u.s. troop would be withdrawn? >> i think quite close. certainly, the u.s. envoy that's negotiating has said that they've really made progress, and the talan have said that they pretty much dotted all the i's and crossed the ts, and they're part of a larger agreement, and the negotiations with the talreibanocused mostly on withdrawal timetable, both of u.s. and nato troops, as well as guarantees from the taliban that they will work against terrosm, will ensure that afghanistan is no longer, can no longer, canever be atother staging arena for terrorisacks worldwide, and paeicularly, of course, in united states. so i think that's very close. so it's in phases, but it's certainly moving toward a final agreement, and certainly, the u.s. has been very clear, both cretary pompeo and ambassad hammazad, they want an agreement by september 1. presidential elections are scheduled for the 28th. several candidates aren't ev