Ss closest allies throughout the war in afghanistan. And i'm curious, just moving to the broader reaction, what has the german government's reaction been to the the hasty withdrawal? Well, there was a parliamentary debate to day in the german dundestak, the federal legislature, which was actually more centred on the omissions of the german government itself. There huge criticism of the government of the chancery in particular, but also the foreign ministry and i think, to a slightly lesser degree, the defence ministry,

for the

way in which this was coordinated forer what the opposition is criticising as a failure of foresight, a failure of planning. We can perhaps get to that later. But there has also been a great deal of public criticism, not so much by the government, but but in public and in the media, of byn's decision. That said,

the

critique focuses not so much on the decision to leave, that i think was pretty much prefigured. If anybody who knew of the president's record, i think, had to know that the president was going to be extremely disinclined to keep american forces on the ground. And in fact, was feeling under intense pressure to end this operation, which is is in the public associated with with the so called forever wars. But there the criticism is directed at the way in which this as done, the lack of consultation with the is when american forces first left in the beginning of the summer, and then again, a lack of consultation when the final drawdown was ws was announced. And i think that is currently making for a somewhat complicated environment between washington and berlin, do you think that it the chancellryin so the rest of the german government was surprised by, first of how quickly the government in cabl collapsed, and secondly, president byne's decision to stick with the august 30 first draw down deadline. I don't know whether surprise is the right word. A i think sometimes in european capital you get a sense that hope triumphs over experience when it shouldn't. Ah, i am not privy to the conversations that have been had between the chancery and n and the white hous but one does get a sense that somehow the gears weren't interlocking either, somebody wasn't communicating effectively from the national security council, or people in berlin weren't picking up. Based on my past experience as an observer of the bilettera relationship, both of those things ahappen on the same time, at the same time.