THE OTHER WAR: Afghanistan, once dubbed “the forgotten war,” seems to have been doing a slow fade into the background in recent months with all the focus on ISIS. But the 15-year-long conflict takes center stage this morning as the Senate Armed Services Committee receives testimony from top U.S. commander Gen. John Nicholson. In Nicholson’s year-end briefing in December he put the best face on what President Trump has called a “disaster,” insisting Afghan security forces have been tested and prevailed. But Nicholson’s testimony this morning comes just over week after a special inspector general’s report painted a grim picture, noting all the trends are pointing the same way: down. “The numbers of the Afghan security forces are decreasing, while both casualties and the number of districts under insurgent control or influence are increasing,” the Jan. 30 report noted. Nicholson will have his work cut out for him as he will have to explain how the Afghan government has lost control of 6 percent of the country’s 407 districts since last November, and 15 percent since November 2015.

And late last night, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released a report saying the impact of a $41.2 million contract for reforming land administration in Afghanistan is unclear due to lack of oversight documentation by the U.S. Agency for International Development.