Fred Starr, the former president of Oberlin College and Chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, joins Mike and Marshall to discuss the role that Central Asian countries might play in stabilizing Afghanistan after the American military withdrawal. Starr is the foremost proponent of the idea of Central Asia a strategic concept in American foreign policy. He describes and defends the idea.
About Counterbalance:
Counterbalance is a foreign policy podcast that embodies Hudson’s tradition of challenging conventional wisdom. The Trump era attacked the elite consensus regarding several key issues, including the rise of China, American policy toward the Middle East, and the compartmentalization of domestic and foreign policy. Many observers in the media and in establishment foreign policy circles are presenting the advent of a Biden presidency as a total repudiation of President Trump’s policies and a return to “normalcy.” But, regardless of how one feels about the Trump era or any of his specific policies, there is no turning back the clock. The elite foreign policy consensus will never be the same. Counterbalance will reckon with what’s next.