Outside the Beltway

Donald Trump responded to the attack on the Pulse nightclub by renewing his call to ban members of an entire religion from coming to the United States.

Bowe Bergdahl’s Court Martial has been delayed until 2017, which raises the possibility that comments by Donald Trump could result in Bergdahl getting off scot-free.

The President has another plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. It’s as likely to be well-received on Capitol Hill as all of his other previous plans on this issue.

American forces will be deployed to a combat area in southern Afghanistan, reversing current policy and calling the President’s promised withdrawal date into even further doubt.

The execution of a prominent Shi’ite cleric has led to a rapid deterioration of the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will face a Court Martial for the circumstances that led to his being capture and held captive by the Taliban for five years.

President Obama came to office inheriting the legacy of one unnecessary war, and another that had faded from memory. He will leave office with Iraq and Syria in crisis, Europe uneasy, Yemen and Libya unstable breeding grounds for terrorism, and China doing whatever it is they’re doing.

The plan to withdraw nearly all American forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 is being put on hold.

President Obama is reportedly considering a plan that would keep up to 5,000 American troops in Afghanistan past the withdrawal date he had already set.

Your tax dollars at work.

The Taliban dealt a major defeat to a numerically superior Afghan Army force, raising questions about just how well Afghanistan can defend itself on its own.

The Afghan Army isn’t doing so well against the Taliban right now.

A well-founded fear of ISIS seems to be drawing many of the former Soviet Republics in Central Asia closer to Moscow.

We live in a random and chaotic universe.

U.S forces in Afghanistan have been involved in missions that go far beyond the counterterror mission the Obama Administration said they would be limited to.

Bowe Bergdahl will face charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, and the White House’s narrative about this release lies in tatters.

The Atlantic has a fascinating cover story by Graeme Wood titled “What ISIS Really Wants.”

Reports indicate that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is likely to be charged with desertion for leaving his post in 2009, but he’s unlikely to serve time in prison.

The Army’s investigation of the disappearance five years ago of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been referred to a top General, who will decide if a court martial should be convened.

The costs of more than a decade of war are far higher than many ever thought, and we’re still paying the price for the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush Administration while they were being fought.

A day of terror at a school in Pakistan.

The shocking has become routine. We’re no safer because of it.

You thought the American combat role in Afghanistan would end on December 31st? Think again.

We’ve handed off operations in Helmand Province to the Afghanistan army.

Who should own antiquity?

The Khorasan Group is, functionally, al Qaeda. Or is it?

Before leaving office, Hamid Karzai is once again biting that hand that has fed him for the past decade.

Obama’s current policy—tactical level strikes with no obvious long-term strategic aim—may well be the best we can hope for.

The General Accounting Office confirmed what seems clear to anyone who can read a statute.

The various factions in Afghanistan have agreed, at least in principle, to alter the nation’s government as part of a deal to resolve election disputes.

There’s a declared winner in Afghanistan’s Presidential Election, but a cloud hangs over the results.

The South Dakota Republican Party has officially endorsed the impeachment of President Obama.

More bad poll numbers for the President.

My latest for War on the Rocks, “HAGEL: CLIMBING OUT FROM UNDER THE BUS,” has posted.

Thanks largely to Administration mistakes, the Bergdahl deal is not going over well.

Trying to make some sense out of a week of outrage.

If someone had seen the signals, perhaps Bowe Bergdahl never would’ve wandered off base and gotten captured.

Contrary to the oft-repeated slogan, the United States has negotiated with terrorists before. And we will do it again.

Not every soldier is a hero. Not even every POW.

Good intentions aren’t an excuse for failure to follow the law.