At the heart of Afghanistan’s conflict lies a deep-seated tension between traditionalist and modernist forces, which has often escalated into violence and armed confrontation between these two groups. A sustainable solution to the crisis in Afghanistan requires...
The Taliban rule is characterized by scholars and policy analysts in different terms, ranging from systematic discrimination and oppression, to ethnic cleansing, gender apartheid, and Islamic totalitarianism. While all of these characterizations are valid, none alone...
Jennifer Freeman and Dee Aker October 2010 marked the 10th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls for women to be engaged in all phases of securing, building, and maintaining peace. Commemorative events have focused on the...
David Cortright As the scale of the military intervention has increased in Afghanistan, so has the armed violence and influence of the Taliban. Reversing this deadly dynamic will require an approach that pursues demilitarization through the gradual disengagement of...
R. Scott Appleby This post includes video content. (6:01) In a major foreign policy speech in Cairo last June, President Barack Obama addressed not another state or group of nations but a religion: Islam, which many Americans continue to view (erroneously) as...
Emad El-Din Shahin Three issues are vital to U.S. security in the Middle East and will define America’s future relations with the Muslim world: the peace process (in Palestine, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan); the United States’ continued support for corrupt and...
David Cortright This article includes video content. (4:00) The goal of defeating Al Qaeda and preventing global terrorist strikes is a just cause. But current U.S. war policies in Afghanistan will not achieve that goal. In fact, they may make matters worse. U.S....