Rather than seeking to change the Afghan uniformed services into clones of the Germans, the Poles or the Australians, it would be both cheaper and more effective to have such training carried out by a nearby military that shares several cultural and historical links with the people of Afghanistan.

American bilateral aid is essential to maintaining American influence through a soft-power, or "smart" power, approach. American cultural and economic influence grew throughout the Cold War, in large part because of bilateral American aid through the Marshall Plan.

With Taiwan’s visibility around the world sometimes limited due to its special relationship with mainland China, making good use of its soft power, particularly in the cultural and creative sector, is crucial to increasing the country’s exposure and influence.

The former governor of Massachusetts will lay out eight foreign policy-related actions he would implement... including creating economic opportunity in Latin America through a "robust public-diplomacy and trade promotion campaign."

Turkey could be a role model due to the many similarities between the country, a model that combines Islam with modernity, and Tunisia, Tunisian leader Rashid al-Ghannushi suggested...“I dream of a free, democratic, peaceful Tunisia, a country that can protect its developing identity,”

The cardinal rule of Turkish foreign policy is straightforward: Turks love countries that help them against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party...The U.S. needs to make its assistance to Turkey against the PKK, including thus far unreported aspects of such aid, the bedrock of its public diplomacy outreach to the Turks.

Simon Anholt, a member of the U.K. Government’s Public Diplomacy Board...said Korea was showing significant progress in national branding after realizing that branding is not about trying to force people to buy its new self-image, but to show the world it is willing and has changed.

A longstanding complaint of Israeli about Arab leaders is that they speak with a forked tongue; that they speak one language to their subjects, and another to the outside world. One of the most important tasks of public diplomacy attaches at Israeli missions abroad has been to distribute translations of the Arabic press.