After meeting with Afghan President Karzai, President Obama announced US troops will move to a support role this spring.

Earlier this year, we asked if you remembered Afghanistan. The answer then, obviously but somewhat unofficially, was no. Now, with the release of several news organization's year-end top stories lists, we know that, objectively, no one gives a shit about the 11-year-old war.

This web site, myself included, has been frequently unkind and occasionally unfair to ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper over the years. So allow me to recant, sort of: Over the course of the last election campaign, Tapper has been among the least obnoxious mainstream-media voices in the Washington bubble. His brief stint filling in as host of This Week was the best thing to happen to that show in years (and I nominated him as its permanent host). But more important, he has written an excellent, unsparing new book about the tragic mindlessness of the war in Afghanistan and the lives of the men and women tasked with waging it.

It's that special time of year again, where we remember troops and solemnify 9/11, instead of reducing the whole of our overseas conflicts and anti-terror policy to some D-grade Seinfeldism about airport check-ins, taking our shoes off and whaaaat is the deeeaal with mini-shampoo bottles.

The Taliban is focusing all of its efforts on kidnapping or killing Prince Harry, a spokesman for the militant group said today.

Taxes. Deficits. Unemployment. Wall Street. Abortion. Gaffes. Jokes. Fashion. Sports. All of these things are being given more attention in America right now, by our presidential candidates and our media and ourselves, than a place called Afghanistan. Remember that place?

A woman was shot nine times in front of a cheering crowd in Afghanistan in what was called "an honor killing." The Taliban soldiers present in the video had allegedly had some kind of "dispute" with the woman, and, according to the governor of the province, Abdul Basir Salangi, accused her of adultery "in order to save face."

For many of us, Memorial Day means two things: sleeping in and not getting mail. But in the spirit of commemorating fallen soldiers, wouldn't it be appropriate to watch some heavy war films and remember the sacrifices made by our troops? Plus, with endless streaming movie options, you don't even have to leave the house to do it.

Eight days ago, the Wall Street Journal published another column promising a "stable Afghanistan" from the Brookings Institution's Michael O'Hanlon. It might as well have been assembled by playing Powerball. O'Hanlon cranks the hopper, opens the little cage and out comes another bromide: "Closer"! "Accomplishing"! "Goals"! "Exit Strategy"!

For the first time since we invaded Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11, a majority of Republicans say that the war was not worth fighting. Even the superpatriots, the military do-or-die-ers, the America Firsters, the my-country-right-or-wrong crowd, have come to the conclusion that this war should never have happened. They're right.

The United States handed over a total of $860,000 to the families of those killed or injured in Sgt. Robert Bales' shooting rampage: $50,000 for each person killed, and $10,000 for each person wounded. Col. Gary Kolb, spokesperson for NATO's International Security Force, said the money was to help the victims and their families, and not compensation for Bales' actions.

The man charged with shooting and killing 16 Afghan civilians has been identified as Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. Although Bales has been brought back to the U.S., where he is currently being held in pre-trial detention, his military court proceedings could take place in Afghanistan. The Afghan government has demanded he face trial there. If convicted, Bales may face the death penalty.

You could be forgiven if, on learning of a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant executing 16 people in villages near Kandahar, you secretly wished that he was some virulent racist—a vicious dickhead who slipped through the vetting process.

An American soldier opened fire on civilians in Kandahar Sunday, killing 16 Afghans including 9 children and 3 women. While most reports say a single soldier is accountable for the massacre, some eyewitness accounts maintain it was a group of American soldiers "who were laughing and appeared drunk."

A video emerges showing US Marines pissing on three Taliban corpses in Afghanistan. The outrage machine grinds into motion. The media bestirs itself from its slumber. Americans momentarily pay attention to the war in Afghanistan again. Politicians rush to add their names to the chorus of identical statements. All inflamed over the least bad thing that soldiers do in war.

The Marine Corps is looking into "the origins of a video on the Internet," shown here, in which four Marines appear to be laughing and peeing on Taliban corpses. (Graphic footage warning.)

It took the court martial jury four hours to find Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs guilty of murder in connection with the infamous "kill team" — a rogue Army unit that murdered unarmed Afghans, including a teenager, for sport.

Under the guise of a program called "Books for the Troops," Bill O'Reilly strong-arms viewers into buying his latest bestseller by promising to send a copy of each one sold to American soldiers serving overseas. Of course, that doesn't mean the troops actually want the books, as we learned Wednesday when one serviceman in Afghanistan posted a photo online of scores of O'Reilly's Pinheads & Patriots burning in a trash bin. How rude! Thankfully, Stephen Colbert was at attention on tonight's Report to set the pinheaded troops straight.

In another disturbing confirmation that, yes, the rest of the world is watching, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appears to have caught that clip of Herman Cain dismissing "insignificant" countries like "Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan" as things that aren't worth learning about. He even got Hillary Clinton to bring it up during their latest meeting, to share a laugh. "That wasn't right, but anyway, that's how politics are," Karzai empathized.

What did the soldiers in Afghanistan do with those copies of Pinheads and Patriots your dad sent in a care package? They set them on fire.