“The discussions are being made even harder by the prisoner swap requirement, which says the government must release up to 5,000 Taliban fighters and the Taliban must free up to 1,000 Afghan security forces. The militant group has long pushed for this, mainly because it would help build up its ranks, but Kabul fiercely rejects the idea.” Vox: Trump’s Afghanistan peace deal just hit its first major obstacle. (I certainly don’t know what the solution is. But a super power negotiating a deal to essentially hand the country back to the Taliban is not what I had in mind when I heard the word, winning.) means.

+ Few troops, fewer vets, fewer headlines. NYT: Why Afghanistan Became an Invisible War.