Afghanistan Surpasses Civil War in Length, Still No End in Sight

FEATURING DOUGLAS WISSING – The New York Times reported that the US war in Afghanistan has gone on for so long that it has now surpassed our own civil war in length. The longest war the US has ever waged often gets short shrift in news reporting or political and public attention. Generals and elected officials have spelled the imminent end of the Afghanistan war numerous times but an end is elusive and ordinary Afghans continue to suffer.

There are currently 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, alongside a few thousand NATO troops, and General John W. Nicholson who leads coalition forces there has asked the Trump Administration for even more troops. Complicating the war are reports that the Taliban, the USs main enemy force, is reaching out to the Russian government for help fighting the Islamic State which has also established itself in the beleaguered Central Asian nation.

Read Douglas Wissing’s latest article on The Hill about Afghanistan HERE and follow him on Twitter at @douglaswissing.

Douglas Wissing, author of “Hopeless but Optimistic: Journeying through America’s Endless War in Afghanistan,” and “Funding the Enemy: How U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban.” His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Foreign Policy. He recently wrote an article in TheHill.com entitled, “Let’s admit the obvious: Afghanistan War is unwinnable.”