Anatol Lieven

Anatol Lieven is a professor in the War Studies Department of King’s College London and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington DC. A new, updated edition of America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism, was republished in September 2012 by Oxford University Press.

Can we please learn from history?

In their enthusiasm for a new cold war against China and Russia, the western establishments of today are making a mistake comparable to that of their forbears of 1914.

By Anatol Lieven

/ 16 Jan 2019

Can we please learn from history?

In their enthusiasm for a new cold war against China and Russia, the western establishments of today are making a mistake comparable to that of their forbears of 1914.

By Anatol Lieven

/ 16 Jan 2019

Why Obama shouldn’t fall for Putin’s Ukrainian folly

Russia and the west have conspired to tear the country apart. Both sides must stand down now or face the consequences.

By Anatol Lieven

/ 3 Mar 2014

Afghanistan, then and now

Modern urban versus traditional rural Afghanistan, then and now. Time may have moved on, but the problems are big enough to be extremely concerning.

By Anatol Lieven

/ 17 Feb 2014

The future of democracy in America

The Tea Parties draw strength from deep roots in the American tradition. In his updated edition of America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism, the author says regardless of who wins the elections in November, this radical conservative tendency poses a serious threat to the future o

By Anatol Lieven

/ 15 Oct 2012

'We think of Zakir as Nick Clegg': Taliban perspectives on reconciliation

This summer, former leading figures in the Afghan Taliban and former mediators met the authors to discuss Taliban ideas for a peace settlement. This RUSI briefing paper affords rare insights into currents of opinion within the Taliban.

By Anatol Lieven, Michael Semple, Theo Farrell and Rudra Chaudhuri

/ 20 Sep 2012

Pakistan: the hard reality

Pakistan is too often portrayed in flawed and reductive ways that flatten its complexity and offer misleading guidance to policy-makers. This makes it all the more important to acknowledge some difficult truths about the country, says Anatol Lieven.

By Anatol Lieven

/ 21 Jun 2011

Insights from the Afghan field

Security policy in Afghanistan may be powered by sublimated imperial nostalgia, but most of the really valuable practical memories and lessons of empire have long since been forgotten. A review of three recent books on the Taliban

By Anatol Lieven

/ 25 Oct 2010

Understanding Pakistan's military

A guided tour of Pakistan’s Army, from its role within Pakistani nationalism, prospects of mutiny, and the relationship of the ISI to the Jihadi world, to hostilities with India, suggests that some key ways of defusing the situation may be being neglected

By Anatol Lieven

/ 9 Aug 2010

Pakistan’s American problem

The war that has resumed between the Pakistani army and the Taliban in the northern mountains of Pakistan is not between two clearly defined sides, with clearly defined victory and

By Anatol Lieven

/ 8 May 2009

The Iran we have

I share with Reza Pahlavi the desire that Iran should be a prosperous and stable democracy. Indeed, I am rather confident that this will one day be the case. Iran

By Anatol Lieven

/ 5 Dec 2006

Israel and the Arabs: peace, not diktats

In recent months, the George W Bush administration seems to have been quietly drifting towards a de facto acceptance of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's plan for a

By Anatol Lieven

/ 23 Jul 2006