Policy Analysis

Recent events indicate that insurgencies in both countries could eventually merge into one contiguous conflict zone, with profound consequences for Iraqi stability.

The country must find a balance between its Muslim identity and its Western affiliations.

Stagnation and stalemate continue to plague the country where the Arab Spring began.

A former U.S. political officer in Afghanistan returns to the Uruzgan Province to assess its progress since the height of the Taliban insurgency.

Persuading Israelis that he is committed to their security could help President Obama deal with Netanyahu on Iran and the peace track.

Israel's next government will likely come together on a platform of increasing ultraorthodox burden sharing and, perhaps, more short-term flexibility on Palestinian negotiations, but tensions regarding final disposition of the West Bank could tear it apart down the road.

In the best scenario, Turkey will write a liberal constitution, end PKK violence by answering calls for enhanced Kurdish rights, and leverage its Western traits regionally.

If Washington and its allies continue redrawing their redlines, they may eventually find themselves advocating military action against facilities that they previously declared legal and tolerable.

A military expert offers a comprehensive look at the Assad regime's past and current use of airpower against the Syrian people.

If Turkey can avoid the authoritarianism of single-party dominance or the chaos of coalition governments, it will have a chance to rise as a regional or even global power.

This groundbreaking book examines Hezbollah's beginnings, its first violent forays in Lebanon, and its ongoing terrorist activities and criminal enterprises around the globe.

Secretary Kerry is quickly finding out that Gulf leaders view the region's challenges differently from the Obama administration and are not reluctant to show it.

Washington's former chief negotiator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposes a fourteen-point agenda to ensure that any new talks have a chance to be productive.

Iran Talks: Is New Momentum Enough? Patrick Clawson

An Iranian scholar visits Cairo, prompting reflections on the role of religion in two revolutions three decades apart.

The president should use his visit as an opportunity to demand that senior Israeli and Palestinian officials consistently reiterate fundamental principles that allay the basic fears of both publics.

"Israel is like Intel on steroids ... Israeli engineers saved the company." Greg Slater, senior counsel and director of trade and competition policy, Intel Corporation "Israel is probably the ally in the region whose interests are most closely aligned with those of the United States." Michael Eisenstadt, director, Military and

Washington Institute fellow Michael Knights contributed a chapter to the multiauthor volume Conducting Terrorism Field Research: A Guide (ed. Adam Dolnik), a detailed and practically oriented handbook on the challenges of conducting terrorist fieldwork. The book offers a collection of articles from experts representing different risk groups, disciplines, methodological approaches

As Secretary Kerry makes his inaugural Middle East trip, states across North Africa face rising tensions among the forces for democracy, stability, and Islamic political ascendancy. In Egypt and Tunisia, revolutions have given way to uncertainty and violence, while Morocco's model of stable reform -- a monarch with an Islamist