A peace process with the Taliban is almost certainly the best way to end the war in Afghanistan, and arguments for postponing efforts to get one underway overlook the costs of prolonging the conflict.
Seth Jones, director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation joins CFR's James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon to discuss Trump's plans for the war in Afghanistan.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the current Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation at the State Department, recently announced a potential framework for a peace deal between the United States and Afghantistan. James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon sat down with Khalilzad in May of 2017 and examined President Donald J. Trump's priorities in Afghanistan. (This is a rebroadcast of that 2017 episode of The President's Inbox.)
Women are at the center of a push for an Afghanistan whose future looks different from its past. Recently, female activists spent days poring over a letter they wrote that urges the United Nations to take an active role in stopping the violence.
Announcements of overlapping, temporary cease-fires by the Afghan government, U.S.-led NATO forces, and the Taliban are hopeful signs that there is still room to move toward a political dialogue to end the conflict.
Panelists discuss current U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan and explore other possible military and diplomatic options to address the ongoing conflict.
A peace process with the Taliban is almost certainly the best way to end the war in Afghanistan, and arguments for postponing efforts to get one underway overlook the costs of prolonging the conflict.
Seth Jones, director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation joins CFR's James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon to discuss Trump's plans for the war in Afghanistan.
President Trump’s much-anticipated Afghan policy rightly avoids troop withdrawal timelines but offers little prospect for progress against the durable Taliban.
In May 2016, President Barack Obama authorized a U.S. military drone strike that killed Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour. A year later, we can judge whether this leadership “decapitation” strike achieved its intended political objectives.
Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations, joins CFR's James M. Lindsay and Robert McMahon to examine President Donald J. Trump's priorities on Afghanistan.
Without a major surge in force levels, the best outcome that the United States can hope for in Afghanistan is that the Taliban will tire of fighting and pursue peace, writes CFR’s Max Boot.