"We're in, what, day two right now? Day two. Hour 39. We've got to work our way through this."
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper spoke at the Pentagon Monday about the ongoing reduction in violence between the Taliban and United States forces in Afghanistan. Minutes before the scheduled press briefing with Esper began, the Taliban announced they would resume attacks against Afghan forces. Despite these reports, Esper maintained the same messaging he has since the very beginning of negotiations — "one day at a time."
The US and the Taliban have negotiated a proposed seven-day 'reduction in violence'
"Again. We'll take this one day at a time and sort through. It's day two. We'll deal with the issue," Esper said.
Both Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley also explained the continued violence during the agreed-upon "reduction in violence" was to be expected.
"As we see, these things happen," Esper said of reports of violence in the region. "We have to verify that an attack happened. We have to figure out attribution. And we work our way through this day after day."
Over the weekend, the United States signed a peace agreement with the Taliban that would withdraw all U.S. troops from the region in the next 14 months — starting with a drawdown to 8,600 in the next three to four months.
"I would caution everybody to think that there's going to be an absolute cessation of violence in Afghanistan," Millie said. "It's probably not going to go to zero. This is a significant step forward, this agreement. It's going to lead to inter-Afghan dialogue and it ultimately leads to a peace agreement. But to think that it's going to go to 0 immediately — that probably is not going to be the case."
US, Taliban sign deal aimed at ending war in Afghanistan
"My instruction to the commander was 'let's get moving,'" Esper said regarding when drawdown efforts would be implemented. "I'm comfortable we can conduct all the missions we need to conduct at 8,600...We'll go to 8,600 and we'll stop and we'll assess the situation."
While the reduction in violence was an "important first step forward," it is just the beginning of what Esper described as a "long, windy, bumpy road."
"There will be ups and downs. We'll stop and start. This will be the nature of this in the next days and months."
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