This week we get into the thorny problem of the United States' "Forever War" in Afghanistan. We're 18 years in. Is there an end in sight? It may actually have been, unbeknownst to almost everyone, until President Trump announced that he had canceled secret peace talks in literally the least secret way possible -- on Twitter! Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, isn't it? In this episode, we discuss nation-building in difficult places, the sad(?) fate of John Bolton, civil-military relations, counterinsurgency policy, the allure of international summitry, and much more!
This week we get into the thorny problem of the United States' "Forever War" in Afghanistan. We're 18 years in. Is there an end in sight? It may actually have been, unbeknownst to almost everyone, until President Trump announced that he had canceled secret peace talks in literally the least secret way possible -- on Twitter! Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, isn't it? In this episode, we discuss nation-building in difficult places, the sad(?) fate of John Bolton, civil-military relations, counterinsurgency policy, the allure of international summitry, and much more!