The United States and the Taliban signed an agreement on Feb. 29 that includes the possible eventual withdrawal of all American and other NATO forces from Afghanistan by next year contingent on the Taliban upholding commitments such as holding talks with the Afghan government.
Iran was an early COVID-19 hot spot, Ilan Berman notes at Radio Farda, yet the “depths of the Iranian regime’s coronavirus crisis remain the subject of heated debate.” The authorities claim that after some 3,800 fatalities, the worst is past; President Hassan Rouhani has floated April 18 as a reopen date.
“The situation in Iran is dire” as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. But in the short run Iran’s health crisis may strengthen the ruling ayatollahs’ grip on power, said Ilan Berman, senior vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council. In the long run, the effects of the illness could stimulate a shift in power, though not necessarily toward a less dictatorial regime.
Following Beijing’s passage of a security law, the US has revoked Hong Kong’s status as autonomous from China and threatened to revoke its special trade and investment privileges, without providing specifics.
AFPC Director for Defense Technology Programs and Vice President of Operations Richard M. Harrison discusses the significance of space and outlines why the U.S. needs a comprehensive space strategy to compete with China.