Javid Ahmad, a nonresident fellow at West Point’s Modern War Institute, is a fellow at the Atlantic Council. The views expressed here are his own. You can follow him on Twitter at @ahmadjavid.

Image: Smoke rises from the site of a blast and gunfire between Taliban and Afghan forces in PD 6 as policemen keep watch in Kabul, Afghanistan March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani