The war in Afghanistan is now beginning its 9th year. Are you wondering how much longer it will be? I’m sure the people living in Afghanistan do – as do the families of the service people fighting there.

In this weeks New York Times Sunday magazine, reporter Dexter Filkins has some pretty sobering answers. He followed General Stanley McCrhystal around dyring a recent visit. Here’s what happened when he met with a group of Afghanis in a bazaar in Garmsir:

“What do you need here?” McChrystal asked.

A translator turned the general’s words into Pashto.

“We need schools!” one Afghan called back. “Schools!”

“We’re working on that,” McChrystal said. “Those things take time.”

McChrystal walked some more, engaging another group of Afghans. He posed the same question.

“Security,” a man said. “We need security. Security first, then the other things will be possible.”

“That is what we are trying to do,” McChrystal said. “But it’s going to take time. Success takes time.”

Apparently a long, long time. In addition to asking for a lot more troops (40,000 is the figure quoted in the article) and a lot more time (like, say, at least another 5 years. At least). Read the whole article – Gen. McChrystal isn’t just talking about defeating the Taliban. It’s a terrific, interesting piece that will keep you awake at night.

If Mr. Filkin’s name sounds familiar, he wrote a terrific book, The Forever War, about the US “war on terror”. The sections of the book that hit me the hardest were the ones about Afghanistan.