In Part 3 of an extensive interview on Afghanistan with Defense & Aerospace Report, Frederick Kagan, PhD, resident scholar, Christopher DeMuth Chair and Critical Threats Project director at the American Enterprise Institute, says Pakistan “won’t give up the Taliban” because it needs a “militant proxy” in Afghanistan to keep its influence there and discusses regional politics.

In Part 2 of an extensive interview on Afghanistan with Defense & Aerospace Report, Frederick Kagan, PhD, resident scholar, Christopher DeMuth Chair and Critical Threats Project director at the American Enterprise Institute, said the US military’s presence in Afghanistan should be a “long term support and train advise-and-assist mission” focused on empowering Afghan National Security and Defense Forces to become self-sufficient, but that current troop levels are too low. The interview was conducted at AEI’s Washington headquarters on Aug. 31, 2017.

In Part 1 of an extensive interview on Afghanistan with Defense & Aerospace Report, Frederick Kagan, PhD, resident scholar, Christopher DeMuth Chair and Critical Threats Project director at the American Enterprise Institute, praises President Donald Trump for acknowledging Afghanistan’s strategic importance in his Aug. 21, 2017, presidential address, but calls his plan for US presence in the country “a framework” versus an actual strategy. The interview was conducted at AEI’s Washington headquarters on Aug. 31, 2017.