Michael Nazir-Ali: After the betrayal of democracy in Afghanistan, will other countries in the region ever trust the West again?

Sensing blood, the vultures are circling: ISIS is active already, and not only in the remoter parts of country.

Garvan Walshe: Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan may not be a strategic mistake, but it is a moral disaster.

Afghan security force members are being murdered. Girls’ schools are being shut down. Iran and Russia are weighing up a return to the quagmire.

Why was there no reference to Islamist extremism in Johnson’s terror speech?

Perhaps the answer is bound up with China – and our inability to focus on more than a single problem at once.

Iain Dale: Stop this utter selfishness and pathetic whinging about not having a normal Christmas to look forward to

Plus: After the kidnapping of this Christian girl, we should cut off aid to Pakistan. And: Muslims must face up the fact that terror is claimed in their name.

The Conservatives risk obsession with China to the exclusion of other threats, including Russia and Islamist extremism

As the great eye of the Conservative Party swivels its gaze towards the Far East, it’s in danger of missing other threats that are closer to home.

Can Starmer surprise us?

He will have to be more than a kind of North London John Smith if he wants to do more than just profit from the Government’s misfortunes. 

Is the Home Office still unfit for purpose?

If Downing Street doesn’t grip the campaign against Patel by allies of her Permanent Secretary and others, it may spiral out of control.

“The shocking influence of lawyers on policy”

The Government seems to be gearing up for a big fight over human rights laws in the wake of the Streatham terror attack.

Iain Dale: How Harry and Meghan sunk Barry Gardiner’s Labour leadership bid

Plus: What Johnson was supposed to do about Iran from Number Ten that he couldn’t do from Mustique is mysterious. I imagine that it has phones and the internet.

Daniel Hannan: Revolutionary Iran is a threat to our national security – not just regional stability. It must be confronted and defeated.

During the years when the West sought to draw Iran back into the comity of nations, the ayatollahs backed terrorist bombs, cyberattacks, and drone shootings.

We need strategic clarity. What poses the greater danger to Britain – Iranian aggression abroad or Sunni extremism here?

Johnson, Macron and Merkel don’t agree on everything, but they share a common concern about ISIS now being allowed the space to revive.

Trump and Iran. What’s the plan?

It isn’t obvious that his foreign policy has been less effective than George W.Bush’s activism or Obama’s passivity. But what’s his aim here?

Rashad Ali: In Syria, Iraq and, yes, Iran, there is rejoicing at the death of Solemani – terrorist and war criminal

The death toll that can be laid at his feet is far greater than that attributable to ISIS and Al Qaeda.

What you may have missed about the Conservative Manifesto 5) Johnson has neither forgiven nor forgotten the Supreme Court

He will remember Lady Hale and her swipe over “girly swots”.  More pertinently, he will have in mind the court’s constitutionally illterate decision over prorogation.

The campaign, week five. Johnson holds his ground – and aims to end next week where he began. With getting Brexit done.

Our nagging worry is: what about voters who may not want to get Brexit done, but are nonetheless apprehensive about Corbyn and John McDonnell’s tax plans?