KABUL, Afghanistan – For 10 years, ever since the towers fell, the United States has fought a war in a distant land — in hopes, it says, of protecting American interests and making the world safer from terrorism. Now, as President Barack Obama plans to end U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan by 2014, the question remains as muddy as ever:

What happened here?

There have been victories — and setbacks. More than 1,522 American service members have died. There has been talk of a more stable, safer Afghanistan and frequent, obvious evidence to the contrary. The country's president and the United States share an uneasy relationship, and it's difficult to tell the story of the past decade in a single, concise statement.