America’s Options in Afghanistan

The Moscow Format on Afghanistan met on October 7, 2025 and included Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Afghan Taliban's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Photo credit: Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS.

Four years have passed since the United States withdrew in chaos from Afghanistan, abandoning important projects, leaving behind billions of dollars of equipment and handing the Taliban many other assets in that country. The Taliban still rule Afghanistan. They face a mountain of unresolved problems yet are ready to employ as much force as necessary […]

Why President Trump Should Place Central Asia on His Agenda

Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Photo credit: Shutterstock.

For three decades Central Asia has remained largely peripheral to Washington’s strategic horizon. Yet Kazakhstan now supplies more than forty percent of the world’s mined uranium, while Turkmenistan controls one of the planet’s largest natural-gas deposits. No sitting US president has visited one of the region’s five countries – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. […]

How Kazakhstan Can Become the Hub of the New Silk Road

Containers at the China-Kazakhstan Logistics Cooperation Base in Lianyungang, China, March 2025. Photo credit: CFOTO via Reuters Connect.

The Trans-Caspian International Transit Route or “Middle Corridor” is Central Asia’s best bet for increasing connectivity and economic ties to the West. But Kazakhstan, the corridor’s hub, faces internal challenges like price competitiveness and external threats like climate change and geopolitics. The Middle Corridor stretches from western China across the vast Kazakh steppe and the […]