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.

Most public discussion this winter reflects a conviction that Ukraine must — and can — win a decisive victory. But what constitutes a win against a country such as Russia? As we consider the road ahead, we cannot escape the brute fact that Putin commands an arsenal of roughly 6,000 nuclear weapons that could kill us all.

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.

February 7, 2020: With the advent of the digital age and the rise of Russia and China as global powers, the EU must do more to defend itself and its relationship with the United States, according to Janne Kuusela, Director General Janne Kuusela. In an event moderated by  Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, Executive Director of the Future of Diplomacy Project and the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship he explained why Finland could be a potential paradigm for the EU’s defense strategy. 

Trump's critics say that lack of success means the president is going to the United Nations in a weakened position.

Rami Khouri breaks down the new laws that loosen restrictions on women living in Saudi Arabia

The annual report on Children and Armed Conflict that the United Nations Secretary-General submitted to the Security Council this week comprises the usual grim inventory of large-scale crimes and atrocities covering over 24,000 verified grave violations against children in 20 countries. Yet behind these depressing statistics are several more troubling phenomena that the report does not mention, and that have crystallised through the half dozen continuing conflicts across the Middle East and South Asia.

Al Jazeera has obtained a copy of the United Nations' report annual report on children and armed conflicts in advance of its publication. It found evidence of more than 24,000 cases of children being killed, maimed or forced to become child soldiers last year. So what needs to be done to protect the lives of our children?

The entire Arab region should pay attention to this week's calls by two respected United Nations agencies for international investigations into the deaths of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and ousted former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi.

As part of the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship’s (PETR) event series, Ambassador Romana Vlahutin, Ambassador at Large for Connectivity in the European External Action Service, addressed the EU’s new Connectivity Strategy in conversation with Philippe Le Corre, PETR affiliate and senior fellow with Harvard Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center on Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.