How can the United States ensure that the withdrawal does not resurrect terrorist threats posed by radical groups in and around the region—the very danger that brought us into Afghanistan twenty years ago? Some 1500 Americans still in Afghanistan -Blinken How can the United States ensure that the …

The U.S. failure to achieve its objectives and the Taliban’s re-emergence in Afghanistan is evident, but whether they represent a challenge or opportunity for Iran is still unclear. Taliban fighters captured the Afghan capital last week amid scenes of panic and chaos, bringing an astonishingly swift close to the …

The regional powers of Turkey and Israel have the chance to create a platform for regional growth and security—a Mediterranean Union. Historic change is afoot in the Eastern Mediterranean. In years to come, historians will point to this post-pandemic, post-wildfire time as the moment that the deeply idiosyncratic …

Patrick Fox Whatever the final disposition of coalition forces in Afghanistan, personnel trapped in Taliban-controlled territory must be secured and evacuated. The current situation in Afghanistan grows more dire by the day for the fate of the thousands of American, coalition, and Afghan civilians trapped by the Taliban. …

Carter Boon Russia and Turkey maintain an interesting and volatile geopolitical relationship. The two states share many common interests and have significant economic ties to one another, and the leaders of both states have a good personal relationship. Despite the many areas of cooperation, there are still many …

James Dorsey Taliban advances in Afghanistan shift the Central Asian playing field on which China, India and the United States compete with rival infrastructure-driven approaches. At first glance, a Taliban takeover of Kabul would give China a 2:0 advantage against the US and India, but that could prove …

Paul Pillar In many cases, following a murky encounter at sea, people are eager to jump to conclusions about the evil intentions of local powers. Strange things have happened over the past several days in the Gulf of Oman. Some crews reported that they temporarily had lost control of their ships for …

Paul Pillar Ostracizing Iran isn’t going to resolve America’s problems. There are other ways for Washington to deal with an adversary that don’t require it to weaken its ability to use diplomacy. Ostracizing another state—isolating it and refusing to conduct normal business with it—to punish or debilitate the …

Mark Episkopos  Moscow has found a like-minded partner in its handling of the Afghanistan crisis in the form of Beijing, holding joint military drills of an unprecedented scale with the People’s Liberation Army on Chinese soil earlier in August. With the Taliban on the verge of victory in Afghanistan, Russia and …