Results and Perspectives in Forward Physics with ATLAS

A review of the ATLAS forward physics results is given with particular emphasis on the aspects of relevance for the cosmic rays community. These include proton-proton cross section measurements at $\sqrt{s} = 7$~TeV, diffractive physics studies using rapidity gaps, measurements of energy flow as a function of pseudorapidity, and the first cross section measurement performed in the recently started Run 2 at $\sqrt{s} = 13$~TeV. The ATLAS future perspectives will also be discussed, focused on the phase 1 upgrade project AFP, underlying its complementarity with the existing ALFA detector in terms of acceptance for diffractive processes, and its potential for a wide forward physics program both at low and high luminosity.