An insurgency allied with the Islamic State has been waging a bloody campaign in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province for almost a decade. After a lull in fighting that lasted most of last year, militants spread southward through the isolated province in late 2023 and early 2024, burning houses, schools and churches as they went.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace”—an ambitious plan to negotiate directly with the country’s criminal and armed groups—suffered a series of setbacks due to missteps, legislative roadblocks and unforced errors. Now, nearly halfway through his four-year term, Petro is no longer relying exclusively on dialogue.
Congressional hearings on the Biden administration’s controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 have become a renewed focal point for political narratives about blame. But they also create an opportunity to consider counterfactual hypothetical scenarios that could expand our understanding of the U.S failure in Afghanistan.