Afghanistan back on the brink... again

With enough recent crises and challenges — Iran, Israel, Yemen, North Korea, Russia and Brexit — to keep foreign ministries fully occupied, it’s possible to overlook one that, having exploded 16 years ago, still burns: Afghanistan’s war goes on and on, currently at a low level but threatening to detonate again as the Taliban and increasingly Islamic State (IS) step up their campaigns across the country.

You thought the war had been won some years ago by the US and its allies.