On October 7, the US entered its 19th year of war. The US may be close to exiting its forever war, but Afghanistan is no closer to stability.

Afghanistan has suffered through decades of war. The modern history of violence has seeped into the nation's ancient art of rug making — rugs now feature imagery of tanks, AK-47s and U.S. drones.

Mr. Kudo, a former Marine captain who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is working on a novel about the Afghanistan war. The Afghan cities fall in rapid succession, like men caught in enfilade fire ...