In late August it appeared that the United States was very close to an agreement with the Taliban that would see US troops withdraw from the Afghanistan.

Leading the negotiations on the US-side was Zalmay Khalilzad, a widely respected former US Ambassador to the UN who is an immigrant to the US from Afghanistan.  He also served as US Ambassador to Afghanistan shortly after the fall of the Taliban.

Significantly, these negotiations did not include the Afghan government, rather they were direct negotiations between the US and the Taliban.

By early September it appeared that the two sides had reached a deal. Then, on September 7th Donald Trump appeared to upend the deal in a tweet suggesting that a planned meeting between the US and Taliban at Camp David had been cancelled, apparently ending these talks. But then, days later, he fired National Security Advisor John Bolton who had largely opposed negotiating with the Taliban in the first place.

So where does this leave the peace process and negotiations for a US withdrawal from Afghanistan? And what happens next? On the line to discuss these questions and more is Daniel Serwer. He is a professor of conflict management and American foreign policy at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Study and a scholar at the Middle East Institute

Daniel Serwer has had a long career in and out of government participating in peace talks and peace building efforts around the world, including Afghanistan.

We kick off discussing just what Zalmay Khalilzad was negotiating with the Taliban before having a longer conversation about how those talks broke down and what comes next.

If you have 20 minutes and want to get up to speed on US diplomacy towards Afghanistan, then have a listen.

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Tanzania has long been recognized as stable country, generally more advanced in its democracy than many other countries in East Africa. To be sure, democracy in Tanzania was certainly imperfect and flawed. But there did exist a degree of press freedom, a robust civil society, and multiple political parties.

Over the last few years, elements of Tanzanian democracy have been curtailed. The country is now in the midst of what scholars would call a democratic backslide. This occurs when the state uses its power to weaken institutions that sustain democracy, like civil society and a free press.

A key inflection point in this process was the 2015 election of President John Magufuli. Magufuli is very much a populist — his nickname is “The Bulldozer.” He came to power on a pledge to stamp out corruption but has also shown himself to be increasingly intolerant of dissent.

Since taking office he has enacted laws to severely restrict press freedoms; many journalists have been arrested, and political opponents silenced.

But according to my guest today, Constantine Manda, the process of democratic backsliding really began under the previous administration. Still, for reasons he explains in this episode, the erosions of have accelerated in recent months.

Constantine Manda is a Tanzanian national and a PHD candidate in the department of political science at Yale University.  If you have 20 minutes and want to learn why journalists and critics of the government in Tanzania have been silenced in recent years, and why what happens in Tanzania is of global consequence, then have a listen.

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Japan and South Korea are in the throws of a dispute – and its getting worse. What was a trade war escalated to the security realm last month when the South Korean government announced that it was pulling out of a key intelligence sharing agreement with Tokyo. This agreement enabled the real-time sharing of key intelligence as it related to common threats, including from North Korea.

Needless to say, amid a growing threat from North Korea, which is regularly testing missiles that could reach both countries, this dispute between South Korea and Japan poses a big risk for international security.

So why are two key US allies that share a common adversary at such loggerheads? And what does a frayed relationship between Seoul and Tokyo mean for regional security and international relations more broadly?

On the line with me to answer these questions and more is Andrew Yeo, associate professor of politics at the Catholic University of America. We kick off talking through the World War Two era origins of this conflict before having a longer conversation about the global implications of a dispute between Japan and South Korea.

If you have twenty minutes and want to learn why historical grievances have become hyper-relevant in East Asia — and why relations are poised to get worse between these two countries, have a listen.

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Read Andrew Yeo’s Washington Post piece

People often ask me what podcasts I most enjoy listening to and top of the list for me is “First Person” from Foreign Policy magazine. The host, Sarah Wildman, is someone I have gotten to know over the years and whose work I have long admired. Each week she draws out from one guest a personal story or narrative that has some broader global significance.It’s a great show and if you are fan of Global Dispatches, you’ll certain enjoy First Person.First Person Homepage Apple Podcasts Spotify