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Afghanistan

Winning Battles, Losing Strategy: Why Military Superiority No Longer Guarantees Victory

America’s battlefield dominance remains unmatched, but Iraq, Afghanistan and now Iran shows that tactical success increasingly fails when military [...] More

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Confidence, Interoperability, and the Limits of U.S. Decision Systems

OPINION -- In recent months, U.S. policy debates have increasingly acknowledged that the decisive contests of the 21st century will not be fought [...] More

TOPSHOT-AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN-CONFLICT

Pakistan: Broker of Peace While Still at War

Just a few weeks ago, Pakistan, the host for fragile ceasefire talks aiming to end the war between the U.S. and Iran, was at war with Afghanistan in [...] More

The Drone War’s Real Problem Isn’t Technology — It’s Speed

When Steve Blank and I sat down over coffee a decade ago and realized that the customer discovery process in Lean was identical to what I'd been [...] More

Confidence, Interoperability, and the Limits of U.S. Decision Systems

In recent months, U.S. policy debates have increasingly acknowledged that the decisive contests of the 21st century will not be fought primarily on [...] More

Iran at the Breaking Point: How Afghanistan and Iraq Still Inform U.S. Strategy

Iran is experiencing its most consequential period of internal unrest in years. Nationwide demonstrations driven by economic collapse, social [...] More

A Fragile Truce at the Durand Line: Will the Afghanistan–Pakistan Ceasefire Last?

One of the most enduring security issues in South Asia has been rekindled by the recent border conflicts between the Taliban-led Afghanistan and [...] More

Afghanistan Is Becoming India and Pakistan’s Proxy Battlefield—Again

On Oct. 15, 2025, Islamabad and Kabul announced a 48-hour ceasefire after days of shelling and cross-border clashes around Spin Boldak/Chaman and in [...] More

Talks, Deception, and Terror: The Taliban Subsumed Under Al Qaeda’s Strategic Umbrella

There has been an argument suggesting that the international community—particularly the United States—should engage with the Taliban to hold them [...] More

I Sat Across the Table from China’s Spies. Here’s How They Operate in Fragile States

In 2016, I sat across the table from China’s Director of Operations for the Ministry of State Security (MSS). Their visit to Kabul was tightly [...] More

Russia’s Outreach to the Taliban: Strategic Calculations or Regional Security Fears?

In recent weeks, reports of Russia considering formal engagement and recognition of the Taliban have reignited debate around international approaches [...] More

Why Al Qaeda Refuses to Die

Why Al Qaeda Refuses to Die

DEEP DIVE — More than two decades after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Al Qaeda is not only alive — it has adapted, expanded, and quietly embedded [...] More

From Kabul to Kyiv: Lessons the U.S. Must Heed for Peace

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, I’ve found the familiar rhetoric supporting Ukraine’s right to self-defense against Russian aggression [...] More