In this episode of GREAT POWER PODCAST, host Michael Sobolik speaks with Ilan Berman, Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy  Council, about America's and China's competing interests in the Middle East, the fallout of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan, and how the  broader region views the burgeoning competition between Washington and Beijing. Guest Biography Ilan Berman is Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council  in Washington, DC. An expert on regional security in the Middle East,  Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, he has consulted for the U.S.  Central Intelligence Agency as well as the U.S. Departments of State and  Defense, and has also provided assistance on foreign policy and  national security issues to a range of governmental agencies and  congressional offices. He has been called one of America's "leading  experts on the Middle East and Iran" by CNN. Mr. Berman is a member of  the Associated Faculty at Missouri State University's Department of Defense and Strategic Studies. A frequent writer and commentator, he has  written for the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post and USA Today, among many other publications. He has also edited and published multiple books. Resources from the Conversation Read Ilan Berman's book, Wars of Ideas: Theology, Interpretation and Power in the Muslim World Read Kai Strittmatter's book, We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State Liston to AFPC podcast, Disinformation Wars Subscribe to AFPC's Indo-Pacific Monitor