Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 31, 2017

Sami Yousafzai, Daily Beast: Who Set Off the Enormous Bomb in Kabul? ‘Not Us,’ Say Taliban. Don’t Believe It.

A former Afghan member of ISIS and a Taliban commander say claims of credit for such an atrocity are almost irrelevant, as long as the U.S.-backed regime is discredited.

The Ramadan morning began with an enormous explosion in Kabul, right at rush hour near the Afghan capital’s embassy row. The boulevard in Wazir Akbar Khan district is one of the busiest in the city, filled with pedestrian traffic as well as cars coming and going to the offices of diplomats, the American military, and Afghan government officials. More than 80 people were killed and hundreds injured, many of them severely, and, as it happened, virtually all of them were Afghan citizens, from street vendors to soldiers, traffic cops, bank clerks, and workers in the telephone company.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 31, 2017

AP Explains: Why can’t the Afghan government protect Kabul? -- AP

The New Normal: Sending Troops to Afghanistan and Forgetting They Exist -- Daniel R. DePetris, National Interest

The Guardian view on terror in Kabul and Baghdad: bombed, but they have not buckled -- Guardian Editorial

A new balance of terror: Why North Korea clings to its nukes -- Eric Talmadge, AP

A Turning Point for Iran? -- Christopher Hill, Project Syndicate

In wake of Trump visit, Saudi-led Sunni bloc already splintering -- Bruce Riedel, Al-Monitor

Qatar, Saudi Arabia open crack in united front against Iran -- Sami Moubayed, Asia Times

"Wider Conspiracy" Behind Manchester Attack -- Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal

Islamic State in the Philippines - A Growing Regional Threat -- Michael Sullivan, RCD

Egypt: The New Dictatorship -- Joshua Hammer, New York Review Of Books

Why the Decline of Europe's Center-Left Matters -- Adriano Bosoni, Stratfor

Ukraine’s Forever War -- Nolan Peterson, Daily Signal

Venezuela must take a step toward freedom -- Maria Corina Machado, Washington Post

Everyone Plays Venezuela's Hunger Games -- Lisa Abramowicz, Bloomberg

Venezuela: Why I support Nicolas Maduro -- Elizabeth Melimopoulos, Al Jazeera

Is Trump’s 350-Ship Navy on the Rocks? -- Bryan McGrath, War on the Rocks