The Enmity Conspiracy, or How War with Iran Became ‘Inevitable’
The U.S.-Iran conflict has acquired an air of inevitability. The last ten years appear as a slow-motion prequel to a pre-destined outcome: War. While structural factors have helped push the two actors...
View ArticleWhy China Should Do More In Afghanistan
The drawdown of International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan after 2014 means the burden of maintaining and governing a modern state will fall on Kabul, complete with all the...
View ArticleChina’s Central Asia Balancing Act
Recently, Beijing played host to senior officials from Turkmenistan to discuss ways to enhance their energy cooperation. The Turkmen-Chinese Cooperation Committee (TCCC) – and its more significant...
View ArticleA Forgotten Player in a Post-2014 Afghanistan: Uzbekistan
The United States and Pakistan have just signed a memorandum of understanding detailing conditions for reopening the border with Afghanistan to NATO transit traffic, closed after a friendly fire...
View ArticleAmerica and Iran Square Off Over Syria
Viewed from Washington, the crisis in Syria has always had very little to do with Syria – and a lot to with Iran. Almost from the beginning, the United States has seen the eruption of the Syrian revolt...
View ArticleWhy Drone Strikes Cede ‘Hearts and Minds’ to Taliban
The intricacies of Afghanistan’s mosaic of tribes, sub-tribes and clans, and its ethnic and sectarian fault lines have befuddled the American enterprise there since 2001. Although U.S. intelligence...
View ArticleMongolia’s Economic Challenge
Mongolia has repeatedly insisted that it wants to open its doors for business to all countries with a genuine interest in participating in the country’s sustainable growth. How much of this policy is...
View ArticlePeace in Afghanistan: Will Pakistan Play Ball?
As the war in Afghanistan winds down, with the withdrawal of American combat troops scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014, there’s a modest ratcheting up of movement towards a reconciliation...
View ArticleWill America Seize the Moment on Iran?
Having won reelection, President Obama now has greater diplomatic freedom and the political space to offer significant concessions to Iran, including the lifting of some of the economic sanctions that...
View ArticleMongolia’s Economic Boom
Mongolia enters 2013 as one of the world’s fastest growing economies, with forecasters predicting GDP growth of 18-20 percent. Driven by a boom in mining revenues, the impact of this growth is clearly...
View ArticleDiplomat Lens: Photo of the Week
Alongside in-depth analysis and rigorous reporting, compelling images are paramount to telling the whole story. As a current-affairs magazine for the Asia-Pacific region, The Diplomat seeks to provide...
View ArticleEast Asia’s New Peacemaker: Mongolia?
The past year has heightened some important security landmines in East Asia. There is the usual cycle of “provocation followed by negotiation” by a not-so reformed regime in North Korea. More...
View ArticleGreat Game in Central Asia After Afghanistan
As the U.S. and coalition forces prepare to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, with all combat forces out by the end of 2014, the governments of Central Asia are bracing for a possible spillover...
View ArticleChina’s Afghanistan Challenge
The 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is fast approaching. China has just over a year before Afghanistan fades from the West’s radar and Western attention toward the country...
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The Xinjiang Perspective: In Photos
Graham Adams shares his personal observations, experiences, and conversations from around Xinjiang. For earlier articles in the series, please see Part I, Part II, and Part III. Following the 2009...
View ArticleA New Plan for a New Afghanistan
Afghanistan's future will not be determined by the thousands of lives tragically lost, the billions spent, or the number of international troops that will remain after 2014. The number of troops on the...
View ArticleCan Asia Urbanize Without Starving?
Is it a Malthusianism catastrophe, or the stuff of farmers’ dreams? With forecasts of Asian food demand doubling by 2050, will the Asia-Pacific’s expanding middle class make agriculture the new oil?...
View ArticleTehran’s Designs on Afghanistan
The bullet mark on the left side of Ali Asghar Yaghobi’s chest is still very fresh, the wound not yet fully healed. The doctors at the local medical center in Herat have removed the bandages, but...
View ArticleRussia: Can The Gas Empire Strike Back?
Russian gas exports face serious challenges from weak gas demand in Europe, the rise of more flexible European gas pricing systems, the unconventional gas boom in North America, and China’s aggressive...
View ArticleTajikistan’s Gas Boom: Prosperity or Conflict?
China’s vigorous quest to secure consistent gas supplies may help underwrite a natural gas-fuelled boom in Tajikistan, which so far has been Central Asia’s poorest and most energy-starved republic. A...
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