ANZUS at 70: The joint facilities in the 1980s

This post is an excerpt from the new ASPI publication ANZUS at 70: the past, present and future of the alliance, released today. Over the next few weeks, The Strategist will be publishing a selection of chapters from …

Terror and the Taliban

By hastily withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden has made a grave mistake, or so many argue. US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for example, has called the Taliban’s swift takeover of …

Pax Americana died in Kabul

The terrorist takeover of Afghanistan, following US President Joe Biden’s precipitous and bungling military exit, has brought an ignoble end to America’s longest war. This is a watershed moment that will be remembered for formalising …

Afghanistan comes full circle

Afghanistan has come full circle. Twenty years after having been evicted from Kabul by US and allied forces, the Taliban are back in control of the Afghan capital and most of the rest of the …

America’s withdrawal of choice

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has fled the country. His government has collapsed as Taliban fighters enter Kabul. Bringing back memories of the ignominious fall of Saigon in 1975, two decades of America’s military presence in …

Lessons from Afghanistan

What is happening in Afghanistan is a tragedy for the millions of Afghans who believed the line that the United States, NATO, Australia and others were there to protect them and give the country a …

The Tusk effect

In July, Donald Tusk, the former European Council president who served as Poland’s prime minister from 2007 to 2014, returned to Polish politics. Many voters remember him as the politician who raised the country’s retirement …

ASPI’s decades: Guarding the guardians

ASPI celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. This series looks at ASPI’s work since its creation in August 2001. In the post-9/11 era, the oldest of questions for any republic still mattered in the capital …

Germany’s homegrown Q menace

On 1 August 2020, about 30,000 people gathered in Berlin to protest against Covid-19 lockdown measures. Although the event, organised by the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement, defied a ban on public gatherings, it was ultimately a …