U.S. military advisers work with Afghan soldiers at an artillery position in Maidan Wardak province, Afghanistan, Aug. 6, 2018. (Photo: James Mackenzie/Reuters/Newscom)
Jeff Smith, Daily Signal: Why America Cannot Afford to Pull Out of Afghanistan
While the White House and U.S. military commanders insist no decision has been made, Washington is alive with speculation that President Donald Trump intends to order the withdrawal of half of the 14,000 U.S. military personnel currently operating in Afghanistan.
The president, who has been critical of the Afghan war in the past, made an abrupt decision to withdraw all U.S. military personnel from Syria last month, so the threat of ordering a similar move in Afghanistan is not a hollow one. It would, however, be a mistake.
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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- January 3, 2019
Trump’s 2019 Vision: Let Others Fight Our Battles -- Michael Hirsh, Foreign Policy
We Don’t Owe Syria’s Kurds -- Christian Whiton, National Interest
Where do the Kurds fit into Syria's war? -- Reuters
What next for Syria's Kurds? -- AFP
My Thoughts on Kim Jong-Un's New Year's Speech -- Geffrey Lewis, National Interest
How badly is China’s economy doing? Look behind the official GDP figures -- Richard Harris, SCMP
In China, Manufacturers Feel the Heat of the Trade War -- Phillip Orchard, Geopolitical Futures
What's behind China's space programme expansion -- Flora Drury, BBC
Is Revolutionary Fervor Afire—Again—in Tunisia? -- Robin Wright, New Yorker
Sudan under al-Bashir: Long history of turmoil, conflicts -- Hamza Hendawi, AP
Armenia: Between Two Empires -- Peter Brown, New York Review Of Books
Will Sending More U.S. Troops to Poland Really Deter Russia? -- Michael Peck, National Interest
Challenges facing Brazil's new president -- John Holman, Al Jazeera
How the U.S. Should Treat Brazil's Bolsonaro -- Eli Lake, Bloomberg View
Fragmenting nuclear arms controls leave world in a more dangerous place -- Andrew Roth, The Guardian
