The war in the Philippines in the late-19th century is not so dissimilar from what we face in Afghanistan

American history has been dominated by war; so, too, may the American future be.
The war in Afghanistan feels foreign to Americans: a far distant land, a confusing and alien culture, and combat against a shadowy enemy. That feeling is mistaken. America has spent much of its history fighting wars like the one in Afghanistan. So much so, in fact, that Afghanistan would be familiar to an American in 1900, and conventional wars such as World War II would seem strange.