'Graveyard of Empires'

In the play "The Great Game", an American official remarks: “The question is, are we on our ninth year in Afghanistan, or are we on our first year for the ninth time?” Sometimes, only art can get at the heart of an issue or dilemma. The 12-part play traces foreign involvement in Afghanistan from 1842 to the present. As the play's guidebook (pdf file) notes, "The Great Game" is a classic term used for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia during the nineteenth century.