Ep. 17: Why the Afghan war has lasted so long; Rethinking 'militarized policing' and more.

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This week on the program:

• It’s been a year since President Trump announced his administration’s Afghanistan strategy. We’ll talk to two experts — Graeme Smith of the International Crisis Group (1:39), and Professor Tanisha Fazal of the University of Minnesota (17:53) — about why the Afghan conflict has gone on for as long as it has, and how America has changed its understanding and experience of war and peace as a result.
• Then (31:13) we’ll join Jonathan Mummolo of Princeton to take a look at the effect of passing U.S. military gear onto American police departments — 12 months after President Trump reopened the transfer of that equipment in a program that made headlines thanks to the Ferguson protests in August 2014.

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• Graeme Smith's latest report can be found here.
• Read Tanisha Fazal and Sarah Kreps on "Why Long Wars No Longer Generate a Backlash at Home" via Foreign Affairs. 
• Find Kreps's book,  "Taxing Wars: The American Way of War Finance and the Decline of Democracy," here.
• Find Jonathan Mummolo's study, "Militarization fails to enhance police safety or reduce crime but may harm police reputation," via PNAS.