As part of a promised “deep dive” on the war in Afghanistan spurred by the dropping of the MOAB, Buck brought on Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal, and a Senior Fellow for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

“To me, it’s that forgotten war,” said Roggio, “anything that draws attention to Afghanistan and the situation there” is a positive.

“Look, we’re losing in Afghanistan. The Taliban controls more territory today than any time after 9/11. ISIS is gaining a foothold. That just tells you how bad things are.”

The two men broke down a map provided by the Long War Journal.

“A lot of places where you see Taliban control are in the South, along the Af-Pak border,” observed Buck. “But then you see a surge of contested provinces up through the center of Afghanistan towards Kabul. That’s something different.”

At the mention of “fighting season” for the Taliban, Roggio dismissed the term as archaic.

“Fighting season hasn’t existed for years,” he said. “They have been going at it year-round.”

“Of the 400 districts in Afghanistan, the Taliban controls well over 200 of them, and that might even be conservative,” said Roggio. “Landmass-wise, they are in control of at least a third of the country. And these remote areas matter. They’ve laid siege to six different provincial capitals–think of them like state capitals.”

“The Taliban has every reason to lie about what’s happening in these districts,” Roggio said. “And they’re not.”

Buck and Roggio then discussed the influences of two rogue actors on the situation in Afghanistan: Russia and Iran.

On Russia, Roggio said, “Russia is very concerned about the Islamic State in Afghanistan. So what they’ve done is they’re playing a game where they’re trying to arm local groups as a bulwark against the Islamic State. They’re trying to prepare for the collapse of Afghanistan and buy off local actors.”

And on Iran: “The Iranians have been supporting local Taliban elements in the West. They are thought to have provided some surface-to-air missiles that took down a British plane. Iran’s vested interest is in the drug trade and in payback against us.”

The entire interview is fascinating, hear it in full by clicking the media above.