From the moment President Joe Biden announced in April that the United States would withdraw all its military forces from Afghanistan within a few months, the level of violence there intensified, negotiations sputtered and the prospects for the Afghan people—especially Afghan women—became grim. The seeming rashness of the decision and …

If we are to believe American intelligence assessments leaked this week, it is only a matter of time before Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, falls to the Taliban. Judging by the worrying news from several of my Afghan friends and colleagues who are now all clamoring to get out of the country, …

The latest escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict brought important shifts in the status quo, underscoring the necessity of a political settlement. A peace based on equal respect for both peoples’ rights will take time, however. Steps to lower the temperature are urgent in the interim. What’s new? The Israeli-Palestinian conflict experienced …

Security forces in the countryside of Aleppo are combating the spread of narcotic substances, amid growing demands for cooperation by the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army factions. The use of narcotics is surging across the areas controlled by the armed Turkish-backed Syrian opposition in northwestern Syria. All efforts exerted by the …

Much of the Middle East is suffering from water scarcity issues amid extremely high temperatures in the summer. Residents protested a lack of water in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region on Wednesday, according to local media outlets. The demonstration came amid wider water access issues in the region. Dozens of people in …

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said Syrian civilians living under a government siege in the southwestern city are suffering from shortages of fuel, food and medicine. The United Nations’ special envoy for Syria on Thursday expressed concern over the “alarming situation” in Daraa, the birthplace of the Syrian …

The Pentagon is readying as many as 8,000 troops to facilitate the withdrawal of American and Afghan personnel. The Pentagon is deploying an additional 3,000 troops into Afghanistan to assist the evacuation of American and Afghan personnel amid sweeping Taliban advances across the country. Three infantry battalions — two from …

President Kais Saied’s July 25 decisions to suspend parliament and the government appear to have been largely popular, despite sharp criticism from those denouncing them as a coup, unconstitutional, or a dangerous overstep of his authority. The mass celebrations in the streets that broke out immediately after his televised announcement …

Summary Irregular warfare (IW) is increasingly common in the 21st century and the U.S. must learn from its successful experiences with it and apply those lessons to great power competition. For the past two decades the CIA and Army Special Forces have demonstrated how to leverage interagency relationships and apply …

It has been a year since the August 2020 announcement of the Abraham Accords, which normalized diplomatic relations between the UAE and Israel. The accords were later signed at a White House ceremony attended by President Donald Trump that September. In less than a year the UAE and Israel swiftly …