suicide. the americans were rushing to finalize outstanding issues, including issues over prisoner release. the war in afghanistan stretches across three u.s. presidents, 18 years in total. this coming wednesday is the answer versery of the september 11th attacks after which president bush took military action to go after the taliban. 400 troops have been killed since. today, nearly 14,000 american troops are still in the country. and the war shows no sign of ending. >> the united states military has begun strikes against al qaeda terrorist training camps and military regime against afghanistan. >> we won't try to make afghanistan a perfect place. we will not police its streets or patrol its mountains indefinitely. that is the responsibility of the afghan deposit. . >> they're like policemen in