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A Week Around the World With <i>The Atlantic</i>

The problem of Afghanistan, the fear of North Korea, and the State of the Union
Source: Omar Sobhani / Reuters

What We’re Writing

The problem of Afghanistan: A devastating terrorist attack in Kabul killed 95 people last week. This has highlighted the problems endemic to America’s longest war, which President Trump touched on in his State of the Union address. One of these problems is the fact that Afghanistan’s neighbor (and America’s sometimes-ally), Pakistan, has actively been undermining the U.S. military’s attempts to end the war there.  

The debate over whether America should deal a “bloody-nose” strike to North Korea as, based on the premise that North Korea is an offensive actor and will eventually strike the U.S. James Jeffrey that McMaster was correct in his thinking, while Mira Rapp-Hooper such a move would be a strategic and humanitarian disaster for the U.S. The presumptive nominee for U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Victor Cha, is for the post because he disagrees with the “bloody-nose” strike logic. And the military seems to be operating with the notion that the U.S. may go to war with North Korea at any time—Uri Friedman Senator Tammy Duckworth, who visited the Korean peninsula and said “the military has seen the writing on the wall.” But ?

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