Diplomacy and International Politics

Foreign Affairs has recently published a number of articles on how the United States should engage with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, extremist forces within the regime, how the West can help ordinary Afghans, and the fate of the country’s women. To complement these essays, Foreign Affairs asked a broad pool of experts for their take. As with previous surveys, Foreign Affairs approached dozens of authorities with expertise relevant to the question at hand, along with leading generalists in the field. Participants were asked to state whether they agreed or disagreed with a proposition and to rate their confidence level in their opinion. Two Belfer Center experts participated, International Security Executive Editor Jacqueline L. Hazelton and Future of Diplomacy Project Senior Fellow Paula Dobriansky.

President Biden seems to have set a trap for himself—and for Americans, allied personnel and Afghans seeking to leave Afghanistan. Those civilians were stranded after Mr. Biden withdrew U.S. troops only to be surprised by the Taliban’s quick takeover. Mr. Biden promised to evacuate them by Aug. 31, and the Taliban said they’d hold him to that deadline. On Monday the administration signaled that it intends to abide by it. It won’t be enough time.

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook analyzes Kamala Harris' performance at the U.S. Vice Presidential debate.

American democracy is facing pressure from all sides: For months, there have been partly violent protests against systemic racism and police violence of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The COVID pandemic has already claimed over 200,000 lives and has extreme economic consequences. Coupled with a polarized media landscape and the growing influence of social media, the pandemic has further exposed deep social divisions along ideological, economic and ethnic fault lines. In addition, the Trump administration is stepping up its escalatory description of the integrity of the American electoral system - what some consider to be a rigid electoral and party system in need of reform. How will the social conflicts affect the understanding of (American) democracy? How is the political establishment contributing to alienation from the Constitution?

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook spoke to German national radio on President Trump's COVID diagnosis and how it will affect the next few weeks of the campaign.

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook from Harvard Kennedy School criticizes the course of the debate. In terms of content, she sees Biden ahead.

It was the first TV duel between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Many topics were up for debate, but there were fewer concrete discussions because the US president barely allowed his political opponent to speak. When Joe Biden commented on his content, Trump confronted Biden with his family history.

The US has many problems, including Donald Trump, says political scientist Cathryn Clüver-Ashbrook. If Joe Biden wins the election, he'll have to fix a lot first.

The US is facing a presidential election, the outcome of which will not necessarily be accepted by the current president. The corona pandemic is hitting the USA as hard as few other countries worldwide, also because of government decisions. Racism is more pronounced than it used to be, and environmental and climate protection provisions are being withdrawn.

Donald Trump officially runs as the U.S. Republican candidate for a second term in the White House. His nomination speech was primarily about presence. With this, he not only wants to clearly distinguish himself from the Democrats in terms of content, he also made his supposed power clear visually.

After the Democrats, the Republicans are now holding their nomination convention in America. Above all, Donald Trump wants to appear as an unshakable leadership figure. What are his chances of being re-elected? Cathryn Cluver Ashbrook discusses with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.