The dangerous rise of a new stab-in-the-back myth
The foreign policy elite are focused on defending their reputations and privileges, not in confronting failure in Afghanistan.
The foreign policy elite are focused on defending their reputations and privileges, not in confronting failure in Afghanistan.
It required a ‘whole of government’ response, but DC wasn’t firing on all cylinders. There is plenty of blame to go around.
Thursday’s ghastly bombings reflect a real threat to the Taliban’s new-found control over the country — and to the U.S. evacuation on the ground.
Our ability to manage the Middle East and Central Asia has reached a critical turning point in Afghanistan. We should heed that.
There will likely be a return to a much more historically normal state of global affairs in which multiple players are engaged.
The world watches as the Afghan government tragically teeters on the brink and America reflects on its failed policies there.
Cities are falling to the Taliban at a rapid pace, but the conditions for failure were set long before the US troop withdrawal this summer.
Not only would this be the “Saigon moment” Biden is trying to avoid, it would signal a full-scale diplomatic abandonment of Afghanistan.
For better or worse we stood up armed groups that are now operating under varying degrees of local, state and Taliban control.
A leaked letter shows growing frustration with Kabul and a desire to move around the government there to get a peace settlement.
Biden will inherit nascent peace talks and surging violence, but he must stand firm in getting U.S. troops out.