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From climate change to the China challenge and the contest between democracy and dictatorship, the New Atlanticist is where top experts and policymakers at the Atlantic Council and beyond offer exclusive insight on the most pressing global challenges—and the US role in addressing them alongside allies and partners.

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Washington’s Afghan Brawl

New Atlanticist
Jul 29, 2025

The Russia pressure menu: Options to convince Putin to negotiate on Ukraine 

As the US president cuts his deadline for Russia to ten days, there are several options for him to increase pressure on Moscow to pursue peace.

Read More

Washington’s Afghan Brawl

New Atlanticist
Jul 24, 2025

Dispatch from Manila: A lesson in calling out Chinese maritime aggression

By
Markus Garlauskas, Philip W. Yu

As the Philippines has focused more on Chinese threats to itself, Manila also seems increasingly inclined to see its own security as connected to that of the broader region.

China
Indo-Pacific

Washington’s Afghan Brawl

New Atlanticist
Jul 1, 2025

The US must enforce sanctions to prevent Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program

By
Kimberly Donovan

To ensure that Tehran cannot get its hands on the financial resources it would need to rebuild its nuclear program, Iran sanctions enforcement should start with China.

Economic Sanctions
Iran

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New Atlanticist

Sep 3, 2009

Washington’s Afghan Brawl

By Thomas Rid

The debate on the pros and cons of Afghanistan is raging inside the Beltway. And it is a bit unsettling. On the one side are those who say no, America has no national interests in Afghanistan — and yes, it’s a war of choice: let’s leave the hellhole and get out asap. On the other […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 3, 2009

When Tactics Displace Strategy

By Raymond Pritchett

ISAF’s mission is to help the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) defeat the insurgency threatening their country. Protecting the Afghan people is the mission. The Afghan people will decide who wins this fight, and we (GIROA and ISAF) are in a struggle for their support. The effort to gain and maintain that support must inform […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 2, 2009

Afghanistan: Strategic Retreat?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

President Obama is not Lincoln with a BlackBerry as some have suggested, but Lyndon Johnson with a war the country no longer supports and a new Cronkite yapping at his Afghan heels.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 2, 2009

NATO’s Afghanistan Dilemma

By Harlan Ullman

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has just submitted his first assessment of what needs to be done to turn the tide in that battered and war-torn nation long known as the graveyard of empires dating back to Alexander. While classified, that assessment summarizes the situation as “serious but still […]

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 2, 2009

U.S., UK Err on Security Decisions

By Amanda Bowman

In the late 80s, Margaret Thatcher warned George H.W. Bush “not to go wobbly” on her; in the past week both the Scottish Justice Secretary and the government of the United States have “gone wobbly” in the fight against terrorism.

United Kingdom United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Sep 1, 2009

Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nuclear War

By Bernard Finel

As the foreign policy community has started to seriously question whether the war in Afghanistan serves America’s strategic interests, regional experts Jari Lindholm and Joshua Foust have offered up a new rationale: preventing a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

Afghanistan India

New Atlanticist

Sep 1, 2009

Afghanistan War All Over But The Shooting

By Judah Grunstein

Does the U.S. have a vital strategic interest in Afghanistan-Pakistan that justifies our continued military presence there? Sadly, the answer is No.

Afghanistan Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 31, 2009

Afghanistan: New Strategy or “New Math”?

By Don Snow

It is being reported that the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is planning what is variously described as a “new strategy” for dealing with the Taliban or as simply a refinement of the current AfPak strategy based in counterinsurgency doctrine.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 31, 2009

Turkey is “World’s Largest Energy Hub”

By Alexandros Petersen

According to Turkey’s popular “Zaman” newspaper, the country can now claim the title of “world’s largest energy hub.” While over a decade of government policy has sought to transform Turkey’s energy sector into first a European, then a regional, and now a global energy hub, a rash of recent international agreements, according to “Zaman,” have […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Aug 31, 2009

Will Germany Remain Part of the West?

By Hans Kundnani

In a sense, the central question of Germany’s post war identity is of whether it constitutes a part of the West or not. As the historian Heinrich August Winkler tells it, Germany has completed its long westward journey. However, the reality is more complicated considering the increasing shift of the Federal Republic’s foreign policy towards […]

Germany
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