The war in Afghanistan is not just the longest and most expensive American war to date, it also seems that it can be carried on indefinitely, largely due to the fact that it resembles the catastrophe US troops faced in Vietnam. However, there’s no way for Washington to back away from it without a significant loss of…
There was, during the course of the 2016 campaign, a small but vocal group of antiwar libertarians and conservatives who had convinced themselves that Donald Trump was preferable to Hillary Clinton because he, Trump, had made his (fictitious) opposition to the Iraq War a cornerstone of his candidacy. Trump, some believed, was a Republican in…
I hate agreeing with Donald Trump. “We made a terrible mistake getting involved in the first place,” he told CNN in October, referring to the war in Afghanistan, which he called a “mess.” “I would leave the troops there begrudgingly,” the then-presidential candidate added. “Believe me, I’m not happy about it.” You remember Afghanistan, right?…
There is mounting evidence that Chinese ground troops are operating inside Afghanistan, conducting joint counter-terror patrols with Afghan forces along a 50-mile stretch of their shared border and fueling speculation that Beijing is preparing to play a significantly greater role in the country’s security once the U.S. and NATO leave. The full scope of China’s…
Russian moves to improve relations with Pakistan to complicate its South Asian strategy? How Russia can mange relations with Pakistan keeping time-tested privileged partnership with India? Russian moves are tactical in nature or following a comprehensive strategy to deal with two rival neighbors? Russia requires a policy for South Asia region as whole? What would…
Last week, I looked at the recent string of attacks in Pakistan and attributed them to state-sponsored terrorism facilitated by Indian and Afghan security services. That opinion got plenty of support on the hawkish side of Pakistan media. Munir Akram Pakistan’s ex ambassador to the UN declared “we know the hostile powers that have sponsored…
