Anton Mardasov & Kirill Semyonov, Riddle
It has been commonly believed that Russia's return to the Middle East was due to the Syrian military campaign. It allowed it to demonstrate strength and impose the rules on the countries of the region, which were already eager to cooperate and sought to diversify their contacts due to the existing issues with the USA.
Nicholas Grossman, Arc Digital
How it's ending, what happens next, and what the U.S. should do
William Barber, The Atlantic
It was a mistake to believe that bombs and missiles and drones and tanks could ever bring peace.
Graeme Smith & David Mansfield, NYT
John Vick, Proceedings
As the Taliban marched triumphantly into Kabul, I watched from Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, a tiny U.S. military base in East Africa. I have deployed around the world to fight terrorism during my Navy and Marine Corps career, but I have not served in Afghanistan. So, why does this feel worse than watching the Islamic State (ISIS) roll through Iraq in 2014 or witnessing al-Shabaab's campaign of murder in Somalia?
George Will, Wash. Post
China is acquiring the charisma that comes from the strange strength of barbarians who are incapable of embarrassment. Freedom House says China "conducts the most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression," which Beijing calls the "overseas struggle."
Kenneth Weisbrode, 1945
In 1954-55 the first so-called offshore island crisis took place between the United States, the People's Republic of China (PRC), and the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC) when the PRC launched attacks on several islands just off its coast that were under the control of the ROC.
C. Raja Mohan, Foreign Policy
The fall of Kabul accelerates a fundamental realignment that was already underway.
Howard French, World Politics Review
In October 1983, during a visit to New York City from West Africa, where I had recently begun a career as a foreign correspondent, I stood in my uncle's kitchen and took in the evening news over a drink before dinner.
Jeva Lange, The Week
The last time the Taliban was in power, most art and music was banned or erased
Jim Sleeper, HNN
Many of us who are old enough to have watched the humiliating April, 1975 flight from Saigon of American generals, consuls, contractors, and tens of thousands of Vietnamese who'd trusted them are gripped now by a depressing, disgusting, and, for some, I fear, a gloating sense of deja vu. Some of us warned several years ago that this defeat was inevitable, for reasons I advanced in Dissent magazine in 2009 and again in Washington Monthly in 2017. (See below.)
Stratfor
This article was originally published by Stratfor Worldview and is reprinted here with permission.
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Bill Roggio, Long War Journal
The Taliban's lightning offensive, which began immediately after President Joe Biden's announcement of withdrawal on April 14, 2021, has resulted in a near total takeover of Afghanistan. However, resistance to the Taliban rule has emerged in the remote and mountainous province of Panjshir.
Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs
Just Because the Taliban Won Doesn't Mean Jihadis Will.
Fred Kaplan, Slate
A new Pentagon report is scathing in its conclusions about the 20-year war.
Andrei Lungu, East Asia Forum
There is growing speculation and alarm about a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan after Beijing sharpened its rhetoric towards the Taiwanese government and increased its
D. London, Just Security
While it's certainly convenient to depict the shock and miscalculation U.S. officials claim over Afghanistan's tragic, rapid fall to the Taliban as an intelligence failure, the reality is far worse. It's a convenient deflection of responsibility for decisions taken owing to political and ideological considerations and provides a scapegoat for a policy decision that's otherwise unable to offer a persuasive defense.
Metin Gurcan, Al Monitor
Ankara was perhaps among those most taken aback by the Taliban's whirlwind takeover of Kabul and the earlier-than-expected US departure from Afghanistan. Until last week, Ankara was preparing to attempt to mediate between the Taliban and the West and assume a mission to guard and run Kabul's international airport once fellow NATO forces completed their withdrawal. After the head-spinning turn of events, it is now scrambling to adapt to the new realities...
