Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- January 22, 2019 (Evening Edition)

Ahmad Murid Partaw, National Interest: The Aftermath of the Afghan War

A hasty U.S. withdrawal with impetuous decisions could lead to more instability in Afghanistan and the wider region.

After eighteen years of war in Afghanistan, the country remains a key security challenge for the United States with various counterterrorism implications in a chaotic region. The Afghan conflict now continuing for nearly two decades, has been enormously costly to the people and government of Afghanistan as well as its coalition partners. The United States has been actively involved in the country since its intervention to topple the Taliban regime in 2001. When President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, there were still hopes in Washington that with adopting a new strategy and sending more troops , it would be possible to turn the tide of the Taliban-led insurgency. The assumption was that increased military pressure might open the door for meaningful peace negotiations with reconcilable factions of the Taliban. But since last year the unanimous consensus within domestic and international circles is that there is virtually no possibility of a military victory over the Taliban.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- January 22, 2019 (Evening Edition)

Cambodia's Hun Sen’s populism hangs by a thread -- David Hutt, Asia Times

Xi Jinping has issued a rallying cry, but what is China on alert for? -- Jane Cai and Sidney Leng, SCMP

How oil has shaped Xinjiang -- Judd C. Kinzley, China Dialogue

The U.S.-China rivalry and Japan -- Glen S. Fukushima, Japan Times

Get Ready for North Korea's Next Summit Showdown -- Doug Bandow, National Interest

Will Kim face protests if he visits Seoul? No one’s saying -- Andrew Salmon, Asia Times

Middle East Mayhem Will Skyrocket Following the Departure of the Americans -- Tanya Goudsouzian, National Interest

Iran’s looming Instagram ban shows hardliner disconnect -- Kourosh Ziabari, Asia Times

Terrorists, cultists – or champions of Iranian democracy? The wild wild story of the MEK -- Arron Merat, The Guardian

Al-Shabaab Wants You To Know It’s Alive and Well -- Amanda Sperber, Foreign Policy

Putin can't afford to ditch the dollar -- Steven E. Halliwell, Reuters

Bombs and Bullets: Fear and Loathing in North Kosovo -- Andjela Milivojevic and Mitrovica, Zvecan, Balkan Insight

France Is First to Face Our Century's Defining Policy Conundrum -- Fabio Rafael Fiallo, RCW

Shunned as illegitimate and catastrophically incompetent, the future looks bleak for Nicolas Maduro -- Sholto Byrnes, The National

George H. W. Bush Changed the World—But Not for the Better -- R. Jordan Prescott, National Interest