South Asia

Podcast

Inside Afghanistan’s Most Dangerous Corner

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Exclusive

Why Is Erik Prince Backing a Secure Communications Company?

Erik Prince's plan to send a private military force to Afghanistan may not have worked out, but another venture he’s involved with has sunnier prospects: ...

Best Defense

Book excerpt: ‘The Final Mission of ‘Extortion 17’ in Afghanistan

Author’s note: This chapter documents the never-before-revealed final minutes of Extortion 17’s fateful mission into Afghanistan’s Tangi Valley. The book reveals, for the first time, ...

Feature

Here we go again in Afghanistan

By John Q. Bolton Best Defense guest columnist The newly announced Afghanistan strategy differs only in style, not substance, from the strategies of the ...

Voice

My Summer Holiday to the Forever War

Every month, Gen. Joseph Votel, the veteran special operator who leads U.S. Central Command, leaves his Tampa, Florida, headquarters to travel across his vast domain ...

Elephants in the Room

Trump’s Afghanistan Strategy Could Actually Work

While I support President Donald Trump’s decision last week to recommit the United States to the war in Afghanistan, it’s not hard to understand why ...

Lawfare

The China-India Border Standoff: What Does Beijing Want?

After 10 weeks, the latest chapter in the long-running China-India-Bhutan border dispute has come to an end. On Monday, India and China agreed to remove ...

The Cable

Pentagon Admits Thousands More Troops in Afghanistan Than Previously Reported

After months of providing misleading information on the actual number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Defense Department said Wednesday there are approximately 11,000 U.S. ...

The Cable

Mapped: The Taliban’s Strongholds in Afghanistan

On Aug. 21, U.S. President Donald Trump announced after months of internal debate inside the administration that he would send more troops to Afghanistan. The ...

Voice

There Is No War in Afghanistan

In announcing last week that more U.S. forces were headed to Afghanistan, President Donald Trump remarked that “the American people are weary of war without ...

Exclusive

Despite Risks, Trump Administration Moves Forward With Afghanistan Mining Plan

The United States has already spent almost half a billion dollars on Afghanistan’s mining industry with little to show, but the Trump administration still appears ...

The Cable

SitRep: Afghan Plan Echoes the Past; U.S. Looking at More Lethal Help for Ukraine

With Adam Rawnsley Afghan plan, again. In the days following President Donald Trump’s speech unveiling his strategy for the war in Afghanistan, Pentagon officials ...

Podcast

Rational Security on the E.R.: The “Everything Old is New Again” Edition

[protected-iframe id="4d33688803045392941f073416811750-71129472-123611325" info="https://player.megaphone.fm/PNP9967880333?" width="100%" height="200" scrolling="no"] On this week’s episode of Rational Security on The E.R., President Trump unveils his plan for Afghanistan. Cyber Command ...

The Cable

SitRep: Mattis Lands in Ukraine, Rips Russia; WH Hands Pentagon Transgender Ban Memo

With Adam Rawnsley Tough words for Moscow. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has landed in Ukraine, becoming the first SecDef to visit the country since ...

Argument

The Decline of the Western Tourist

Tis the season to go to Ibiza. Or Bali. Or Miami, or maybe just pack the car, round up the kids, and go to a ...

The Cable

SitRep: More Troops in Afghanistan Than Pentagon Admits; Mattis Waiting on Afghan Plan

With Adam Rawnsley The scoop on troops. The Wall Street Journal’s Gordon Lubold and Nancy Youssef finally got the Pentagon to admit something we ...

The Cable

Trump Administration Threatens to Cut Aid to Pakistan. Does It Matter?

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Tuesday afternoon that U.S. funding for Pakistan could be cut if the government doesn’t cooperate with the president’s strategy ...

Elephants in the Room

Trump Is Right About Afghanistan

The best moment in President Donald Trump’s Afghanistan speech on Monday was also the most candid: My original instinct was to pull out. And historically, ...

Voice

Back to the Future in Afghanistan

The options are bad in Afghanistan. We could cut our losses (2,400 Americans dead, $1 trillion spent) and depart — but that would eventually lead ...

Elephants in the Room

Trump’s Presidential Afghanistan Speech

Last night was one of Donald Trump’s finest moments as president. The Trump who showed up was the Trump who spoke about the heritage of ...

The Cable

SitRep: Trump Pushes Forward in Afghanistan, Refuses to Provide Details

With Adam Rawnsley A new push in the same forever war. President Donald Trump sought to bury the Obama approach to Afghanistan by adding ...

AFGHANISTAN-UNREST-AIRFORCE-ARMY-DEFENCE

Report

Building the Afghan Air Force Will Take Years

In December 2009, when then President Barack Obama announced the beginning of an exit plan from Afghanistan, the hope was to build up the country’s ...

Shadow Government

Afghanistan Is Now Trump’s War

President Donald Trump has just made one of the most consequential decisions of his young and turbulent presidency — whether to send thousands more U.S. ...

The Cable

SitRep: Trump’s War in Afghanistan; USS John S. McCain Limps into Port, 10 Sailors Missing

With Adam Rawnsley Trump’s War. President Donald Trump is about to take ownership of the 16-year U.S.war in Afghanistan, and will announce his decision ...

Podcast

Is There A Way Out Of Afghanistan?

[protected-iframe id="9a6e246ffcc4afad49f81b90065dda2a-71129472-123611325" info="https://player.megaphone.fm/PNP1771954327?" width="100%" height="200" scrolling="no"] President Donald Trump and his national security team will meet at Camp David Friday to discuss a new strategy ...

Exclusive

Inside Trump’s Tortured Search for a Winning Strategy in Afghanistan

In mid-July, President Donald Trump sat down for a meeting with the head of an American chemical company that transformed his view of the U.S. ...

Argument

In Afghanistan, Reform Can’t Come Fast Enough

There is so much that is wrong, corrupt, troubling, and dangerous in Afghanistan that it seems strange to return from a visit with positive impressions. ...

Argument

India Is Weaponizing its Spiritual Tourists

Every July, thousands of buses, trucks, cars, mules, and palanquin bearers crawl up 12, 768 treacherous feet of mountainous terrain to reach the Amarnath cave, ...

Argument

The Only Enemy Pakistan’s Army Can Beat Is Its Own Democracy

Pakistan has a new prime minister — at least for now. Last Tuesday, Pakistan’s parliament held a special election to replace Nawaz Sharif of the ...

The Cable

Will China and India Go to War Over This Tiny 12-Mile Strip of Land?

China and India share more than 2,000 miles of border, but it’s a slim corridor just 12 miles across at its narrowest point -- and ...

Argument

Hostage Taking Is China’s Small-Claims Court

When dozens of men stormed the Shanghai branch of USGFX, an Australian foreign currency trading firm, in July, the employees were terrified. Held hostage as ...

Argument

Who Will Win the Great China-India Naval War of 2020?

Right now China and India are glaring at each other across Doklam, the contested ground along the Sino-Indian frontier high in the Himalayas. It was ...

Voice

The Top Five Foreign-Policy Blunders Trump Hasn’t Made Yet

Donald Trump needs help. The wheels have been coming off his presidency since he took the oath of office, and he’s rapidly becoming his own ...

The Cable

SitRep: Getting Down to Business Bob Mueller Style; “Losing” the War in Afghanistan

By Jenna McLaughlin with Adam Rawnsley, Emily Tamkin, Kavitha Surana Bob Mueller sure isn’t messing around. President Trump was on his way to rally campaign ...

Argument

The Downfall of Nawaz Sharif and the Triumph of Stupidity

Yet another prime minister fell in Pakistan last week, marking the sixth elected leader to fail to serve out his five-year term since 2002. This ...

Argument

How Long Can China and India Avoid War in the Himalayas?

A remote corner of the Himalayas has become the unlikely scene of a major power standoff between China and India. Now entering its seventh week, ...

The Cable

India and China Still at Standoff, Kushner Speaks to Senators: The Weekend Behind, the Week Ahead

India and China continue a standoff over a disputed border region in the Himalayas. On Monday, China’s defense ministry spokesman Col. Wu Qian said India ...

The Magazine

The Harsh Reality of Being African in India

Feature

The Things They Carried: The Afghan Field Medic

The Cable

Pentagon Stops $300 Million Payment to Pakistan, Citing Terrorist Fight

The Pentagon is withholding hundreds of millions of dollars meant to reimburse Pakistan for its fight against terrorist groups, citing Islamabad’s failure to take “sufficient ...

The Cable

The Afghan Vice President Was Just Denied Entry to Afghanistan

A plane carrying General Abdul Rashid Dostum, Afghan vice president and former warlord, was turned away after trying to land in the northern city of ...

The Cable

Situation Report: Trump Agrees to Keep Iran Deal; Tillerson Shuttering War Crimes Office; Marines Help in Afghan Fight

With Adam Rawnsley Iran deal. After weeks of internal battles, President Trump agreed on Monday to certify that Iran is complying with an international ...

Dispatch

Nepal’s Oligarchy Isn’t Earthquake-Proof

KATHMANDU — Police guarded a voter registration center in Patan Durbar Square, dozing or fiddling with smartphones amid scaffolding and the ruins of centuries-old pagodas ...

The Cable

As America Retreats, the World Moves Forward on Trade

In the last six months, the United States has hurled itself off the chessboard that is international trade, leaving the Trans Pacific Partnership, threatening to ...

Best Defense

Our generals failed in Afghanistan

Best Defense is on summer hiatus. During this restful spell we offer re-runs from the past 12 months. This item originally ran on Oct. 18, ...

Argument

Pakistan Can’t Afford China’s ‘Friendship’

In recent months, the Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has left Pakistanis emboldened, Indians angry, and U.S. analysts worried. Ostensibly, CPEC will connect Pakistan to China’s ...

Podcast

Can Trump End the Never-Ending War?

[protected-iframe id="a47e3859c75526bf8e6c3683ff7d5602-71129472-76891884" info="https://player.megaphone.fm/PNP9616477877?" width="100%" height="200" scrolling="no"] The Pentagon is set to send an additional 4,000 troops to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the State Department is ready to ...

The Cable

Can Modi Turn India From a ‘True Friend’ to the U.S. to a Friend Forever?

In Washington, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is out to answer to one question: “Is India the lynchpin of America’s strategic pivot to the east, ...

The Cable

A British Deal, an Indian Declaration, a Supreme Court Announcement: The Weekend Behind, the Week Ahead

Theresa May’s Conservatives have reached a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party to form a government on Monday. The deal will see an additional one ...

Argument

Can There Be Peace With Honor in Afghanistan?

Over the next few weeks, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is due to provide President Donald Trump with a new strategy for Afghanistan. This will ...

The Cable

State Department to Scrap Afghanistan-Pakistan Envoy

In a surprising move, the State Department reportedly is getting rid of its special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Several reports on Friday indicate the ...

The Cable

Trump’s Likely Pick for India Ambassador Actually Knows a Lot About India

After five months without a U.S. number one in India, Donald Trump appears to have finally chosen the next ambassador to the subcontinent. Kenneth Juster, ...

Dispatch

Asia Is Trawling for a Deadly Fishing War

THALVUPADU, Sri Lanka — Stanley Cruz, a fisher in this beachside village on the island of Mannar off Sri Lanka’s northwestern coast, stands with his ...

The Cable

SitRep: Thousands More Headed to Afghanistan; Did Moscow Kill Baghdadi?

With Adam Rawnsley Afghan surge, again and again. Military officials have been saying for months they need somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 more troops ...

The Cable

The New, Old War in Afghanistan

In the coming weeks, President Donald Trump will become the third American president in 16 years to surge troops into Afghanistan. But he will also ...

Best Defense

An excerpt from ‘One Mission: How Leaders Built a Team of Teams’

The Utility of Liaison Officers Midway through my year with General Stanley McChrystal, I found myself in the back seat of a well-worn and ...

The Cable

SitRep: Mattis’ War; U.S. To Ship $12B Worth of Fighter Planes to Qatar; American Commandos Targeted By ISIS Drones

With Adam Rawnsley Afghanistan surge. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sought to temper expectations he was about to embark on a large -- or rapid ...

About South Asia Channel

The South Asia Channel, a collaboration with New America and Johns Hopkins SAIS, features deep analysis of issues concerning Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, and covers everything from politics to business to culture.

Editor, Peter Bergen
Assistant Editor, David Sterman

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