NeutralityStudies

While the democratically elected government of Afghanistan has been ousted from power, its diplomats remain in position. Although they don't interact with the Taliban government, they continue issuing visas and represent the country in international organizations. In this interview, Nasir A. Andisha, who is himself a historian and an international relations scholar, discusses the current situation of Afghanistan as well as the structural problems that hinder the development of any centralized government from working properly—a problem, he says, that also the Taliban now are facing. Federalization, democratization, and neutralization are his recommendations. In the meantime, a looming famine, US sanctions on the country's institutions, and the seizure of Afghan funds need to be resolved with the US and the world community at large. The suffering of the Afghan people must not be the goal of US foreign policy.

In this in-depth interview, Jack Matlock, the outspoken retired career diplomat who served as the United States last Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1987–91) reflects critically on NATO expansion, Ukraine's internal struggles, and most importantly the lack of western empathy toward European security needs. To think of Russia as different from Europe is a mistake, he holds, and reminds us that the Cold War ended because it was in both parties interest to bring it to an end. Although the current sitation in 2022 might on the outside look like a "new cold war" it has nothing in common with the underlying reasons for the original Cold War says the former US diplomat who knew the struggle inside out. Ambassador Matlock served, among other postings, as US Ambassador to Checkoslovakia from 1981–83, and, most importantly, as the United State’s last Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987–91 with his duties in Moscow ending only months before the dissolution of the country itself. After retiring form the Foreign Service, Ambassador Matlock turned to history, teaching, and writing. He wrote three books on the Soviet Union and on US Foreign Policy: Autopsy on an Empire (1995), reflecting on the end of the Soviet Union. Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended (2004) and Superpower Illusions: How Myths and False Ideologies Led America Astray—and How to Return to Reality (2010) Ambassador Matlock is a critic of some of the common narratives about the end of the Cold War, and of NATO expansion, stating publicly that it was a mistake.