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ByRobertBurns The Associated Press KABUL, AFGHANISTAN Af- ghanistan has fallen so far from Americans' conscious- ness that some may have forgotten it's called the for- gotten war. It also is America's lon- gest war. Now in its 16th year and showing little sign of ending, it will soon be the responsibility of Don- ald Trump, two presidents removed from the October 2001 invasion. During the presidential campaign, neither Trump nor Democrat Hillary Clin- ton offered new ideas for breaking the battlefield stalemate. They hardly mentioned the country, let alone a strategy. And yet, the war that be- gan as America's response to 9/11 grinds on as nearly 10,000 U.S. troops train and advise the Afghan army and police, hopeful that at some point the Afghans can stand on their own against the Taliban — or better, that peace talks will end the in- surgency. A look at the war Trump inherits from President Barack Obama, what U.S. troops are doing and why the outlook is so clouded. TheU.S.mission While Obama was a long- time critic of the Iraq war, he always cast the Afghan- istan fight as vital. Shortly after taking of- fice in 2009, Obama looked to fix what he saw as U.S. failures in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He tripled troop levels in Afghanistan, but the surge did not force the Taliban to the negotiating table. Pakistan remains a sanctuary for the Taliban. In December 2014, the U.S. ended its combat role in Afghanistan, but there will beatleast8,400troopsthere when Trump takes office. American troops and their coalition partners perform two tasks: The first, Operation Resolute Support, is to train and ad- vise Afghan forces fighting the Taliban. The second, Operation Freedom's Sen- tinel, is to hunt down and kill al-Qaida militants, as well as those affiliated with the Islamic State and other groups using the country as a hideout and potential launching pad for attacks. "The interests we are pursuing here are clear and enduring," Defense Secre- tary Ash Carter said during a visit Friday. He cited the goals of preventing another 9/11-type attack on America and helping Afghanistan at- tain enough stability to re- main a long-term security partner. The U.S. performs its counterterror work in Af- ghanistan in two ways. First, it goes after al-Qaida and Islamic State operatives as a U.S.-only mission. Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in the country, said last week that U.S. spe- cial operations forces have conducted 350 such mis- sions in 2016 — an average of nearly one per day. These killed or captured nearly 50 leaders and other members of al-Qaida, he said. Secondly, U.S. forces op- erate with Afghan special forces in hunting Islamic State fighters; these opera- tions have killed the top 12 IS leaders in Afghanistan, Nicholson said. He said that of the 98 militant groups designated by the U.S. as terrorist orga- nizations, 20 are in Afghan- istan, the world's highest concentration. That alone says much about the incon- clusive — some would say failed — outcome of Obama administration's efforts. Nicholson said Friday the remnants of al-Qaida, the group whose 9/11 attacks were the reason the U.S. in- vaded, still "has the intent" to attack America. The outlook Nicholson and many U.S. generals who preceded him see reason for hope in the country. They point to mod- est progress against corrup- tion and expanded opportu- nities for women. He said he is confident the Afghan army, which suf- fered heavy losses in 2016, will continue to improve. "It was a tough year," he said. "They were tested. They prevailed." His predecessor, retired Gen. John Campbell, says the Afghans deserve con- tinued support. "The Afghan government is now taking on the Tali- ban more so than ever be- fore," he said Friday in an email exchange. Some analysts, however, worry that the Obama ad- ministration missed oppor- tunities to improve security and strengthen the govern- ment. Frederick W. Kagan, a military historian and di- rector of the Critical Threats Project at the American En- terprise Institute, says secu- rity has deteriorated despite U.S. efforts to build up the army and police. "If that's not good," he said of Afghan security, "nothing else matters. And it's not good." Kagan says Obama is leaving his successor a wor- risome situation. "We're sliding toward the collapse of this government and potentially a renewal of the civil war," he said. Trump's war Trump will not have an easy time disentangling the U.S. military from Af- ghanistan, short of an un- likely decision to simply walk away. He has said little about the country but has called broadly for an end to "nation-building" efforts. Michael Flynn, the re- tired Army lieutenant gen- eral who will be Trump's national security adviser, sees Afghanistan as part of a broader war the U.S. must fight for generations. "We defeated al-Qaida and the Iranians in Iraq, and the Taliban and their allies in Afghanistan. None- theless, they kept fight- ing and we went away," he wrote in his 2016 book, "Field of Fight." "Let's face it: Right now we're losing, and I'm talking about a very big war, not just Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. We're in a world war against a messi- anic mass movement of evil people." GLOBAL TERRORISM It 's T ru mp 's w ar s oo n: A fg ha n fu tu re c lo ud y at b es t MASSOUDHOSSAINI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, right, hugs U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter a er a press conference Friday at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. InPrintEveryTuesday-Thursday-Saturday Online:Publishes24/7 www.redbluffdailynews.com Threeadditionalonline locations at no extra cost! 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