Recent Posts

Russia tries to leverage ties with Taliban in Mideast policies

Russia’s invitation to the Taliban’s since-canceled inauguration ceremony indicates a special relationship has developed between Moscow and the Taliban. Russia – along with Pakistan, China, Iran, Turkey and Qatar — was on a fairly short list of states invited by the Taliban to inaugurate their new government in Kabul on …

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For U.S. Allies and Partners, Afghanistan Is an Unsettling Precedent

A full accounting of the costs of the United States’ failed intervention in Afghanistan will take years or even decades. But judging from the reactions from overseas to the past week’s events, the debacle has already taken a significant toll on America’s credibility. Justifiably or not, President Joe Biden’s insistence …

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What the ‘Restrainers’ Get Wrong About U.S. Alliances

Proponents of a U.S. grand strategy of “restraint” are perhaps most well-known for advocating the end of America’s “forever wars” and reducing the country’s military footprint in the Middle East and Afghanistan. But the so-called restrainers have also questioned the rationale for maintaining the United States’ extensive networks of alliances …

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