There are American wars that last for decades, and then there are weeks of the American Presidency where it feels like a decade has passed. One week, the Trump administration’s mood swings bring it from blackmailing NATO allies to contemplating trade wars against China. The next week might see a turn from launching cruise missiles into Syria one month to agreeing to a summit with Kim Jong-un. Between such dramatic twists and turns, it can be easy to forget Donald Trump’s dropping the “mother of all bombs” in Afghanistan in April 2017, his Administration’s increase of troop levels in Afghanistan by 25 percent, or simply the fact that the United States is still involved in that country. Afghanistan may be out of the headlines due to Trump’s tweetstorms, but as of this writing, it remains, by some measures, the longest war in American history.

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