WATCH: Sightline with Tim Marshall on America's longest war

Could an end to America's presence in Afghanistan be in sight?

For the United States, fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan has been a 17-year-long exercise in futility. It has become an increasingly un-winnable war.

And it is the Afghan people who continue to suffer most. This year alone has seen more than 1,700 civilian deaths in Afghanistan as the Taliban continues to claim territory in large chunks of the country.

The addition of thousands of American troops last year did nothing to stop the Taliban from gaining ground. Now, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seem willing to move toward an American exit from Afghanistan. This might include negotiating directly with the Taliban.

So how does America get out of its longest war? Tim Marshall, from The National's London bureau, tackles that question in this edition of Sightline. Watch the video above.

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Watch more episodes of Sightline with Tim Marshall