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KABUL—Even before President Trump’s drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan goes into effect, there are clear signs the national government is losing its grip.
Streets empty out at dusk on the edge of the capital, as security forces gird for a rising wave of hit-and-run assassinations. Taliban insurgents have stuck letters on shop fronts, warning that the Islamic Emirate, as the movement calls itself, will arrest or summarily execute kidnappers, looters and robbers.
“When…