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The views expressed on this podcast are those of the participants, not of Reuters News. As I was doing research in Afghanistan, embedding with the troops, the troops started telling me that we were funding both sides of the enemy,

that the counterinsurgency was so messed up that we were literally, a discussion of the world in conflict, focusing

on the stories behind the front lines. Hello,

welcome.

Hello, welcome to War College. I'm your host Matthew Gault. With us today is journalist

Douglas Wissing. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post,

on the BBC and NPR. Since 2009, Wissing is embedded with

troops in Afghanistan three times. He's been on the front lines of America's

longest and often forgotten war. He also has a new book out titled Hopeless but

optimistic that details his experiences in Afghanistan and why he thinks it's time

that America should leave. Now the news out of Afghanistan is bad. Kabul can't defend itself

and the NATO-led mission doesn't have the troops to keep the Taliban from

taking back territory. At the beginning of February, General John Nicholson came home to tell Congress that it needed to send more troops or risk losing Afghanistan forever.

Doug, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you. So, my first Doug, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

So my first question is, should America

send more troops to Afghanistan?

Well, like most of us, I follow General Nicholson's request for a quote a few thousand more troops.

...