From the rooftop of a mud house overlooking the Shomali Plain, the white explosions in the distance and the red streak of artillery fire and the occasional thunderclaps echoing across the valley announced the start of America’s war in Afghanistan.

It was as dark a night as can be imagined on that cool October evening. We were warned not to use flashlights or light up a cigarette or even let the glow of our satellite phones be seen lest we attract Taliban fire. The only other light in view came from the headlights of a long string of vehicles across the valley ferrying civilians away from the bombing.

That was eight years ago last week and never on that night, as we watched the might of the world’s most powerful nation rain down on the primitive army of soldiers clad in rags and sandals, did it occur to us that America so many years later would still be trying to figure out how to win. The journey from the rugged village of Topdara to the halls of the White House is a quintessential story about the limits of power and imagination.

That was brought home in stark terms as President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize just hours before meeting with advisers to discuss escalating a war that has yet to be won. The lessons of the last eight years suggest that no matter what choice he makes and no matter what the Nobel committee in Oslo thinks, Obama may very well leave office after four or eight years and without peace in Afghanistan.

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