Why is the war in Afghanistan so neglected in the media?

To me it's strange how the war in Afghanistan gets nearly no coverage on major US news outlets. I look back to the Vietnam War - known colloquially as "The Living Room War" and wonder why the media and American public seem to have no concern about the war in Afghanistan, how it's being managed, troop levels, major campaigns (like the Tet Offensive in Vietnam) or casualties. Also, among the American public there seems to be little recognition even of the fact that the US is engaged in a war. The comparisons to public perceptions of wars past are strange (e.g. "victory gardens" in WWII and the antiwar movement during Vietnam). If you didn't know better, you'd think Americans were an ignorant people exclusively concerned with trivial things like the next Iphone and overblown court cases. In my opinion, the lack of media coverage and the lack of public concern/consciousness of the war and its effects is disturbing. Why do you think this is the case?

That is because there are much more immediately pressing issues back at home (the government shutdown).

It's because we're leading towards a massive force recall back home. The lights over there are shutting off, so to speak, and there really are more important pressing issues right now than a dying military campaign in the Middle East.

For one thing, the US plans to withdraw from Afghanistan.
For another, the tribes and topography of Afghanistan are too complicated for Americans to understand, without a lot of study.

First of all, we're not fighting the Communists in Afghanistan. If we were there would be a huge propaganda effort to demonize us.

Second, the war in Afghanistan is being fought by a small, professional military, not a large National Army filled out with conscripts.

Third, the war in Afghanistan is a low intensity insurgency. The numbers of casualties is low enough that it has not alarmed the American public. If the American public is not alarmed the media is not interested in covering the story.

I still don't know why the hell we ever went over there to kill… Maim… And destroy… What has ANY of it achieved… Just a complete and utter waste of life and money…

It isn't.