Blog Posts

The U.S. State Department is painting a grim picture of violations and abuses in countries that already have dismal records in its “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018.”

"The longest peace talks between the U.S. and the Taliban to end America’s 17-year war in Afghanistan concluded Tuesday night in Qatar, with both sides saying progress had been made."

"Hundreds of citizens in a key drug trafficking region of southern Colombia have been forced to flee their homes amid increased fighting between rival criminal groups, highlighting shifting criminal dynamics in the region in the absence of the former ex-FARC mafia boss, alias 'Guacho.'"

"The Pentagon on Tuesday unveiled details of the $750 billion national defense budget that the Trump administration has asked Congress to pass, calling it an example of how the military is shifting its emphasis from counterinsurgencies to competition with China and Russia."

"As the war is waning, Iran wants to keep a strong footing in Syria by urging Iranian construction companies to invest in the war-torn country."

"The longest round of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban has ended with "real strides" being made but without an agreement on troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said on March 12."

"Fires raged to the sound of gunfire and exploding artillery shells overnight in the Islamic State enclave of Baghuz in what U.S.-backed forces hope will be the last night for the terror group’s self-proclaimed caliphate."

"While President Donald Trump’s new budget Monday reflects White House funding priorities, it has little if any chance of becoming law, as Democrats who control the House strongly disagree with what they consider the bookkeeping gimmickry accompanying it."

"The Trump administration is proposing slashing the budget for the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development by almost 24 percent, with particularly steep cuts to humanitarian aid, refugee assistance and global health programs."

"Tehran wields influence in the Middle East through its use of non-state partners, despite renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran and a U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal. Iran’s economic woes have not contributed to declining activism in the region—at least not yet."

"The Russian military has commissioned more than 1,000 new aircraft and thousands of tanks in the past few years in a massive modernization effort amid tensions with the West, the nation’s defense minister said Monday."

Continue on for summaries and links to all the latest articles.

Continue on for a summary and a link to the full Brookings Institution report.

Continue on for links to two op-eds on the situation in Afghanistan from Divergent Options and The Interpreter.

"Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Baghdad on Monday, Iraqi state television said, making his first official visit to the nation that Tehran once fought a bloody war against and later backed in the battle with the Islamic State group."

"The American military has escalated a battle against the Shabab, an extremist group affiliated with Al Qaeda, in Somalia even as President Trump seeks to scale back operations against similar Islamist insurgencies elsewhere in the world, from Syria and Afghanistan to West Africa."

"Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founder of the Taliban, lived in hiding near a U.S. base in southern Afghanistan until his death, according to a new research-group report that contradicts long-held theories by U.S. officials about the notorious one-eyed leader."

Norvell B. DeAtkine ("Tex") at Lima Charlie - "The United States Army War College (USAWC) Iraq Report was presented to the American public as a compendium of lessons learned about the Iraq War, from the successes of Operation Iraqi Freedom, to the messy, bloody aftermath."

"We’ve spent the past year studying Russian IRA disinformation on Twitter with the goal of better understanding its strategy and tactics. Like KGB disinformation operations of the past, this campaign has two overt goals."

From "The Conversation" - "The names of American-born Hoda Muthana and Brit Shamima Begum have appeared in countless headlines in the United States and Europe since these two female members of the Islamic State group were discovered in a large displaced persons camp weeks ago."

"Across the islands of the southern Philippines, the black flag of the Islamic State is flying over what the group considers its East Asia province. Men in the jungle, two oceans away from the arid birthplace of the Islamic State, are taking the terrorist brand name into new battles."

"Trump administration officials didn’t secure commitments from key European allies to send military forces to Syria, passing a target date set for Friday, but said they would continue building their case for allied involvement to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State extremist group."

"By scuttling plans to help its leaders understand what went wrong, the service is turning a blind eye to insights of enduring relevance."

"As the caliphate in Syria crumbles, men who fought for ‘true jihad’ in Marawi tell of how the suffering of civilians made them flee."

"A week after U.S.-backed forces announced the start of their final assault on Islamic State territory in Syria, there is little the troops or the countries backing them can be sure of."