U.N. Afghanistan envoy Deborah Lyons attends a meeting in Kabul.

U.N. Afghanistan Envoy Issues Desperate Plea to Avert Catastrophe

Deborah Lyons cites Syria and Sarajevo in her warnings of what could come as the Taliban turn their guns toward Afghanistan’s cities.

People walk toward a border crossing point in Pakistan.

How Pakistan Could Become Biden’s Worst Enemy

The United States is banking on Islamabad to broker successful peace talks with the Taliban. That’s not likely to happen.

A decorative plate with an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen behind a statue of Mao Zedong at a souvenir store next to Tiananmen Square in Beijing on February 27, 2018.

Ideological Competition With China Is Inevitable—Like It or Not

Beijing recognizes promoting human rights and democracy is an ideological challenge. So should Washington.

Leaving Afghanistan

What happens to the country and its people after the forever war ends?

Shadow Government

A front-row seat to the Republicans’ debate over foreign policy, including their critique of the Biden administration.

A militia member rests in Afghanistan.

With Militias in Herat, ‘We Are Caught Between Bad and Worse’

Killings by militiamen in Herat underscore the risks of relying on armed civilians to fight off the Taliban.

Rodrigo Tuz Díaz, 11, a student at the Ignacio Ramírez Calzada primary school, works on his schoolwork at his home in the Indigenous community of Celtún, Yucatán state, Mexico, on May 3, as schools remain closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mexico’s School Closures Are Increasing Inequality

Limited access to technology is exacerbating the education gap for Indigenous communities.

A woman prays as she visits a relative with COVID-19 at the intensive care unit of the El Cruce-Dr. Néstor Kirchner hospital in Florencio Varela, Argentina, on April 13.

COVAX Is Not Working

Will the pandemic’s delta phase be more equitable?

Flavors of Statecraft

Pope Francis eats lunch with guests on Nov. 17 in The Vatican, to mark the World Day of the Poor.

Pope Francis’s Heretical Pasta

Matteo Salvini and the Italian far-right have found a new target in their crusade to marginalize Muslims: pork-free tortellini.

statedinner_homepagegrid

All the Presidents’ Meals

America’s laden tables used to wow queens and premiers. But is state dinner diplomacy as outdated as lobster aspic?

Diners at Hunan Slurp in New York’s East Village on July 25.

From Chop Suey to Fine Dining

Wealthy Chinese are pushing to overturn their national cuisine’s image as fast and cheap.

Tan Final Web Flat

For the Love of Welsh Rarebit

In a politically correct era, is it ever OK to crave colonialist cuisine?

In the Magazine

In the Magazine

Angela Merkel

The Other Side of Angela Merkel

What the world has misunderstood about the German chancellor.

Bideneconomics_economy-reagan-trickle-down-mike-mcquade-illustration-homepage

The Bidenomics Revolution

If he succeeds, the president will cast 40 years of economic doctrine on history’s ash heap. But that’s a big if.

Age and the Agbayas

One word perfectly captures the clash between Nigeria’s leaders and its booming young population.

An Indian Youth Congress activist takes part in a protest against rising fuel prices in Siliguri, India, on Feb. 26.

Specter of Stagflation Hangs Over Emerging Markets

Rich countries’ pandemic policies are sucking growth and capital out of the developing world.

French President Emmanuel Macron greets people at Félix Houphouët Boigny International Airport in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Dec. 20, 2019.

Macron Isn’t So Post-Colonial After All

National sovereignty is one thing. Monetary sovereignty is another.

Then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks to his dog, Ben, at a State Department event.

Why a New CDC Ban Could Separate U.S. Diplomats Abroad From Their Dogs

The ban on importing dogs from more than 100 countries is leaving U.S. government personnel posted abroad in limbo.

Belarus athlete Kristsina Timanovskaya arrives at the boarding gate for an Austrian Airlines flight at Narita international airport on Aug. 4, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

The Geopolitical Stakes of Olympic Perfection—and Defection

The Tokyo Games have brought a surge of nationalism and laid bare the methods of autocrats like Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko.

A protester scolds riot police in Thailand.

As COVID-19 Spikes, Thailand Goes After the Press

The pandemic has become an excuse for expanding authoritarianism.

Students look at booklets at their desks on the first day back to school at the National School of Tabarre in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Sept. 5, 2016.

Haiti’s Foreign Language Stranglehold

Around 90 percent of Haitians speak only Haitian Creole. So why is school mostly conducted in French?

The Dead Sea shoreline is receding.

Can Enemies Become Allies in the Fight Against Climate Change?

There are many incentives for cross-border military cooperation—even among adversaries—as climate change worsens.

People protest the Brazilian president.

The Pandemic’s Legacy Will Spur New Protests in Latin America

Increased economic inequality has only added to widespread discontent.

A nurse takes Moderna COVID-19 vaccines ready to be administered at a vaccination site in Los Angeles on Feb. 16.

The Science Says Everyone Needs a COVID-19 Booster Shot—and Soon

The biology of the delta variant has made mass revaccination an urgent necessity.

The MV Ever Given container ship sails in the Suez Canal

How the Red Sea Became a Trap

From piracy to the Ever Given, colonialism left hard scars.

Najib Mikati is seen at his residence in Beirut.

Lebanon’s Billionaire Prime Minister Can Only Buy Time

A year the Beirut blast, the political class is desperate to avoid a political reckoning.

A Tibetan herder and yak on July 4, 2020, as part of a composite satellite illustration of the Tibetan and Bhutanese border region.

China Is Using Tibetans as Agents of Empire in the Himalayas

What life is like for the quarter-million residents of fortress villages in Tibet.