KABUL, Afghanistan — On this day 15 years ago, the United States began a costly war in Afghanistan that in several ways is more grim now than ever before. Now, even as the European Union is preparing to send tens of thousands of Afghan migrants back, war, intimidation and dislocation are a daily reality for many families in Afghanistan.

With the American military presence down to less than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, the Taliban are again seizing large stretches of territory. And the hope that the Afghan security forces, trained and funded by the United States, could keep at least major cities safe from the Taliban is crumbling.

This week, the Taliban overran the provincial capital of Kunduz for a second time in a year, and insurgents threaten several other provincial capitals. Small pockets of new militants claiming affiliation with the Islamic State have added to the chaos, wreaking havoc in parts of the country’s east.

Here are accounts from a few of the Afghans caught up by the war, translated and edited for clarity.