Outside the Beltway

The notion of a kinder, gentler version has quickly been debunked.

Humanitarian instincts rightly trumped security concerns.

We may be out of Afghanistan but the ‘war on terror’ is likely to continue indefinitely.

After 20 years, the conflict closes much as it began.

Because Afghanistan and Hurricane Ida weren’t enough for the Biden administration to deal with.

I guess you proved your point about great powers picking and choosing their battlefields.

What we know of the American servicemembers killed.

An unsatisfying first(?) response.

Thirteen Marines and dozens of Afghan civilians are dead in a much-anticipated attack.

Grandstanding in the midst of chaos is a bad look.

The evacuation could soon become a terrorist target.

They’ve got a lot of gall blaming Biden for this mess.

Well, this escalated quickly.

We’re not getting Afghans—or even American citizens trapped there—out fast enough.

A legendary journalist is gone.

A humanitarian crisis made worse by shameful delays.

The risks are real but the rewards are spectacular.

The collapse is not his doing. But he’s accountable for the poor planning.

The mirage of semi-order faded quickly.

The postmortems are well underway.

The collapse is coming even faster than feared.

It appears to be only a matter of time before the SECDEF orders active-duty troops to get the shots.

The President hit all the right notes.

Our last-ditch airstrikes only postpone the inevitable.

Fear of Chinese spies led to a bizarre and illegal operation within the Commerce Department.

A shameful exit from an ill-conceived war.

For years, American troops fought a ‘forever war’ to delay the inevitable. It’s now coming.

He was both the youngest and oldest man to run the Pentagon.

Vaccination is voluntary but refusal is not without consequence.

A meaningless gesture that’s long overdue.

Retired generals are no longer in the military.

A very strange approach to talent management.

The answer seems simple but it isn’t.

My contribution to a continuing debate.

Our junior enlisted members make far less than that.

A serving officer was arrested for his part in events of 6 January

The Southeast has been hit especially hard.

The Supreme Court justice least concerned with precedent wants to overturn a longstanding one.

On fiscal policy and historical comparisons.

The 94-year-old legend is finally getting his due.

It’s undemocratic and we should get rid of it. But doing so isn’t a panacea.

It’s harder than a looks, especially given the limited size of the problem.

Yes, it’s complicated, but it is also time to stop relying on cliches.

An exceptional choice that breaks the recent tradition of politicos in the post.

President Biden has a second chance to do the right thing.

Thousands of centrifuges have been destroyed.

Four administrations and two decades later, it’s about to be over.

Iran’s top nuclear facility is offline again.

Stoking a bizarre fantasy that will not die.

A bizarre case of bureaucratic ineptitude.