The war in Afghanistan is the longest war in U.S. history and it has cost roughly 1 trillion dollars, left over 170,000 dead, and displaced another 4 million people. In this episode, we examine how to end wars through the lens of Afghanistan with Vali Nasr, the dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and former senior advisor to Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.  Vali Nasr brings unique insight into how the conflict has played out, how the US foreign policy apparatus failed to effectively end this war, and what lessons there might be for ending war in Syria. This conversation not only provides an intellectual architecture for understanding conflict termination, but also explains the dynamics between Afghanistan, Pakistan and other regional actors. This is the conversation you should listen to if you want to understand what options there are for ending wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices