As the Arab Spring went sour, country after country in the Middle East went from protest and nascent democracy to strife and even civil war. Yet one part of the region seemed relatively untouched: the Pa...

Editor’s Note: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the brutal leader of the world’s most brutal terrorist group, is an enigma to many Westerners. Unlike Osama bin Laden, Baghdadi does not grant long interviews to West...

Editor’s Note: Energy markets are at the core of many national security debates. Whether it’s a discussion about Iran’s nuclear program, the importance of Libya, or China’s role in the world, questions a...

Editor’s Note: A longstanding counterterrorism tension is how to balance a robust intelligence presence and tough legal measures against hardcore terrorists with the need to gain the support of local com...

Editor's Note: In the latest entry in our ongoing dialogue on the future of Afghanistan, Stephen Watts and Sean Mann respond to Gary Owen's critique of their piece on the future of Afghanistan, arguing t...

Editor’s Note: No one wants to give terrorists even a shred of legitimacy through negotiations, but even hardline counterterrorist countries like Israel have at times recognized the need to cut a deal wi...

Editor’s Note: A few weeks ago, we ran a provocative piece by Stephen Watts and Sean Mann in which they argued that in both its politics and in its development, Afghanistan is doing better than is common...

Using counterterrorism as a lens for seeing the Middle East, as the Obama administration so often does, has helped the United States achieve several important successes against the Al Qaeda core and avoi...

Editor’s Note: Sanctions are increasingly America’s foreign policy instrument of first resort, promising success without the bloodshed that comes with military force. Iran’s willingness to cut a deal ove...

Editor's Note: Last week we looked at how the lack of attention to governance has hindered effective U.S. security sector assistance. This week Gordon Adams of American University and Richard Sokolsky of...

Editor's Note: We’re breaking new ground here at the Foreign Policy Essay—a two-part series. So many of the problems identified in past Foreign Policy Essays and for Lawfare in general revolve directly o...