America’s Kwantung Army
Secretary of Defense Rock's essay argues that U.S. Central Command, born of the 1979 Iranian collapse and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, has become America's own Kwantung Army—an entrenched institution whose gravitational pull keeps the United States in the Middle East despite decades of promised Indo-Pacific pivots. He cites the Yemen air campaign's cost and doubts about the June 2025 Iran strikes, warning that delay only deepens the strategic drift.
