I do hope you will get back very, very quickly.

this use of the word 'consultation' is bogus

I do not understand. I really do not. People are concerned about mission creep.

Should we reach agreement with Pakistan on what our joint efforts are going to be, as it relates to Afghanistan?

Part of the problem in our relationship with Pakistan right now is that they're hedging against an expectation that the United States has unrealistic aims which will ultimately lead us to disengage.

But, if we don't arrive at some mutually agreeable understanding of what the end state looks like, such that Pakistan stops trying to undermine it because they don't think what they're going to get is something they can live with, the…

if we get to 'good enough,' Afghanistan will not exist without us, they're going to be our supplicant.

I do not think a greater level of military effort in FATA or in Afghanistan itself will make a large difference in political outcomes.

We know that when we leave Afghanistan, we are going to make an accommodation with the Taliban.

I do not want to hear about negotiation. I am talking about the military piece of it where we can actually route out the folks that are directing the killing of American soldiers.

We know of fertilizer plants that are not being used to make fertilizer. They are being used to kill our soldiers.

Pakistan acts very irrational. I mean, I leave there almost feeling like I have had a Rodney Dangerfield moment whenever I am there.