They’re stealing from our people who are trying to help them and killing our soldiers who are trying to train them. And when called on it, they say we are lying.It’s probably no surprise that I’m talking about Afghanistan. But a new U.S. government auditors’ report puts glistening new icing on the cake.The Afghan Finance Ministry has levied nearly $1 billion in unwarranted taxes on United States aid agencies that “build roads, schools, hospitals” for the Afghan people, the auditors’ report said

WASHINGTON ― On June 17, at his first press conference as Iran’s President-elect, Hassan Rowhani broke little new ground in the Islamic Republic’s relations with the West. On nuclear policy, he said that the “era of suspension is over”: Iran will not accept the suspension of uranium enrichment in upcoming negotiations but will seek to make its nuclear activities more transparent in order to build international confidence. Moreover, Iran would welcome direct negotiations with the United States if

As China has risen, the U.S. has grappled with the task of coming to terms with this constantly more prominent reality on the international scene. This has not been a smooth process, indeed it has been marked by many disagreements and considerable friction. From time to time, various negative features of China’s emergence have been emphasized in the U.S. and other Western countries, such as its record on democracy and human rights.Official agencies have led the criticism, and, taking their cue f

WASHINGTON ― Critics are correct when they argue that President Obama doesn’t have a strategy for military victory in Syria. The reality is that despite his decision last week to arm the opposition there, Obama is still playing for a negotiated diplomatic transition. It’s a confusing policy with multiple objectives: Obama wants to bolster moderate opposition forces under Gen. Salim Idriss until they’re strong enough to negotiate a transition government. He wants to counter recent offensives by H

With grand rhetoric, Group of Eight leaders this week seized upon the prospect of a deal between the U.S. and Europe that would reduce or eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers. David Cameron, the U.K. prime minister, called it “the biggest bilateral trade deal in history” and “a once-in-a-generation prize” that “we are determined to seize.” But would the proposed trans-Atlantic trade agreement really be a prize, or would it more closely resemble a poisoned chalice for the U.S.? I think the

Recently South Korea has acceded to a number of international conventions covering children’s rights, adoption issues and international child abduction. In March the U.N. convention on child abduction was signed and in May the convention on international adoption. And yet despite all of this seeming advancement, the decisions of the South Korean judiciary still must meet international standards required before these treaties will be effective in practice.This is because all of these treaties hav