1. "DOHA, Qatar — They are here to end their fathers’ war."

On both sides of negotiations with Taliban are nearly a dozen children of men who played key roles in the anti-Soviet war in 1980s that set off the four-decade conflict spiraling in Afghanistan https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/world/asia/at-afghan-peace-talks-hoping-to-end-their-fathers-war.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/0...

2. That the children -- aged 25 to 66 -- of those & #39;Mujahideen& #39; are now at the table as the second-generation of this conflict tells you how long the war in Afghanistan has dragged.

But it also speaks of what is at stake in these talks:

3. If the Afghan warring sides fail to agree on a formula of power-sharing, Afghanistan could break into another civil war, the conflict dragging on for another generation, with new enemies and new patrons.

4. “If we lose this opportunity, we& #39;ve lost Afghanistan,” said Fatima Gailani, 66, whose father was a leader of the resistance to the Soviets.

“If we lose this opportunity..we& #39;ve betrayed every child, every woman, above all we have betrayed the people who died in this war”

5. Ending the war in Afghanistan requires a deal that address this volatile reality: a rentier state that, its modern history suggests, will remain dependent on foreigners...but now with 4-decade infrastructure of jihadism training generations to fight intrusive foreign powers.

6. Perhaps the biggest lesson in how this conflict could drag on for another generation if not resolved right is the last 40-years of Jalaluddin Haqqani, insurgent to the end.

Old friends could become new enemies, old enemies new friends, in someone else& #39;s war in Afghanistan.