Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 17, 2017

Reinforcement troops from the Afghan army prepared to travel to Kandahar.
Ahmad Masood/Reuters

Eli Lake, Bloomberg: Trump Has to Decide: 50,000 Troops to Afghanistan?

A new classified intelligence brief says the Ghani government can survive if the U.S. recommits.

A new Afghanistan war strategy approved last month by President Donald Trump's top military and national security advisers would require at least 50,000 U.S. forces to stop the advance of the Taliban and save the government in Kabul, according to a classified U.S. intelligence community assessment.

U.S. intelligence and national security officials familiar with the assessment tell me that it was drafted in April, and that it provided estimates of necessary troop strengths for various strategic options. But it found that if an ambitious war plan approved by the National Security Council's principals committee got a green light from the president -- a big if -- more than 50,000 U.S. troops would be needed.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 17, 2017

American military suffering from myopia in Asia? -- Grant Newsham, Asia Times

Erdoğan outgunned at Trump meeting in face of US-Russian united front -- Simon Tisdall, The Guardian

What Iran’s high-stakes election means for voters and the world -- Amir Handjani, Reuters

Posting political opinions: how Iran's social media is shaping its presidential election -- Shabnam von Hein, DW

Putin, North Korea and what Russia really wants in the region -- ALexander Titov, The Conversation

Take a lesson from the Cold War to work with North Korea -- Robert Haffa, Defense News

China Is Building Its Way to an Empire -- Noah Feldman, Bloomberg

Can China Afford Its Belt and Road? -- Christopher Balding, Bloomberg

China's Stake in the Kashmir Dispute -- Fahad Shah, The Diplomat

In Vietnam, the Curious Fall of a Communist Leader -- Murray & Pham, The Diplomat

Japan risks isolation in the Asia-Pacific -- Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Straits Times

Why Ukraine Said 'Nyet' to Russian Social Networks -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

Germany Will Lose if Macron Fails -- Hans-Helmut Kotz, Project Syndicate

“Buy American” Threatens Our NATO Alliances -- Geoff Davis. RCD

The Future of the Venezuelan Crisis -- Allison Fedirka, RCW

What Happens When Intelligence Agencies Lose Faith in the President? -- David Frum, The Atlantic

The Risks of Sharing Intelligence -- Priscilla Alvarez, The Atlantic