Central Asia
Postcards from Hell, 2011
Images from the world's most failed states.
BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | JUNE 20, 2011
Everything You Think You Know About the Collapse of the Soviet Union Is Wrong
*And why it matters today in a new age of revolution.
BY LEON ARON | JULY/AUGUST 2011
Country First
After a turbulent decade abroad, the Republican Party turns inward.
BY JAMES TRAUB | JUNE 17, 2011
The Five Habits of Highly Effective Terrorist Organizations
Management lessons for al Qaeda’s new boss.
BY DANIEL BYMAN | JUNE 16, 2011
The Drawdown Debate
Jon Huntsman may have been a no-show at the first 2012 GOP debate, but his comments about the U.S. footprint in Afghanistan made the most news. FP asked three Afghanistan experts to weigh in.
JUNE 16, 2011
Billions for Missile Defense, Not a Dime for Common Sense
At a time of tight budgets, doubling down on a risky, easily foiled technology is more foolish than ever.
BY YOUSAF BUTT | JUNE 10, 2011
A One-Man Insurgency
How a young Afghan went from policeman to murderer to saint.
BY ANNA BADKHEN | MAY 27, 2011
A Groom's Tale
In rural Afghanistan, girls aren't the only ones getting married too young.
BY ANNA BADKHEN | MAY 19, 2011
The New Face of al Qaeda?
The Yemeni-American firebrand preacher, Anwar al-Awlaki, won't replace Osama bin Laden as al Qaeda's No. 1 -- but Washington should be worried about his increasing prominence.
BY CHRISTOPHER BOUCEK | MAY 18, 2011
Leaving With Honor
After Osama bin Laden's death, Afghanistan looks more like Vietnam than ever -- and for once, that's a good thing.
BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 16, 2011
Putin's Puppets
How do you win a Russian election? First, invent a coalition.
BY JULIA IOFFE | MAY 6, 2011
Freedom From Fear
Now that he's accomplished the central aim of George W. Bush's foreign policy, Barack Obama can finally get started on his own.
BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 5, 2011
Think Again: Al Qaeda
The world's most notorious terrorist organization was never quite what Americans thought it was -- and Osama bin Laden's death doesn't mean that it's down for the count.
BY DANIEL BYMAN | MAY 3, 2011
The Lies They Tell Us
Can the Pakistani government's web of deceit survive the death of Osama bin Laden?
BY MOSHARRAF ZAIDI | MAY 2, 2011
The Prisoners' Dilemma
Does WikiLeaks' newest document dump tell us anything we don't know about Guantánamo, or is it just another reminder that the United States' least worst place is now its most intractable legal problem? FP asked four experts on military law and interrogation to weigh in on the Gitmo papers.
APRIL 25, 2011
Russia's Crime of the Century
How crooked officials pulled off a massive scam, spent millions on Dubai real estate, and killed my partner when he tried to expose them.
BY JAMISON FIRESTONE | APRIL 20, 2011
Failing Grades
The real schools of Afghanistan and Pakistan look nothing like the fantasy peddled by Greg Mortenson.
APRIL 19, 2011
Cup Half-Empty
Why we all wanted to believe what Greg Mortenson was selling.
BY MOSHARRAF ZAIDI | APRIL 19, 2011
Two to Tango
David Miliband has a plan for bringing both sides to the negotiating table in Afghanistan. But getting the Taliban to show up won't be easy.
BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | APRIL 13, 2011
Think Again: The Afghan Drug Trade
Why cracking down on Afghanistan's opium business won't help stop the Taliban -- or the United States' own drug problems.
BY JONATHAN P. CAULKINS, JONATHAN D. KULICK, AND MARK A.R. KLEIMAN | APRIL 1, 2011
Cold and Violent
In the first installment of a regular weekly dispatch, Anna Badkhen returns to Northern Afghanistan to find a freezing, chaotic place.
BY ANNA BADKHEN | MARCH 9, 2011
A Return to Hell in Swat
The Pakistani Army -- and Gen. David Petraeus -- treated the counterinsurgency effort in the Swat Valley as a monumental success. A year later, things on the ground look quite a bit different.
BY TARA MCKELVEY | MARCH 2, 2011
The Islamic Republic of Talibanistan
Why the West should stop fighting with the Taliban for hearts and minds, and start letting the Islamists try their hand at governing.
BY SALEEM H. ALI | FEBRUARY 25, 2011
Obama Is Helping Iran
How Washington's awkward handling of Middle East uprisings is playing into the hands of the Islamic Republic.
BY FLYNT AND HILLARY MANN LEVERETT | FEBRUARY 23, 2011
Solitary Man
An FP slide show of Hamid Karzai's tumultuous nine years as president of Afghanistan.
FEBRUARY 22, 2011
Slash and Burn
Congressional Republicans are bent on all but eliminating the U.S. government's foreign aid budget. And Defense Secretary Robert Gates may be the only one who can stop them.
BY JAMES TRAUB | FEBRUARY 18, 2011
Echoes of Belgrade
From Minsk to Cairo, the nonviolent democratic uprisings of the past decade have been influenced by the tactics and imagery of Serbia's 2000 Bulldozer Revolution.
FEBRUARY 16, 2011
How Russia and China See the Egyptian Revolution
In Moscow and Beijing, the powers that be are understandably unsettled by events in Cairo -- and Washington can't afford to ignore their reaction.
BY FIONA HILL | FEBRUARY 15, 2011
Chicago street gang and Lyndon LaRouche appear in Qaddafi's FBI file
BY JOSHUA E. KEATING
No, the Spanish can’t be more German -- and other myths of the euro crisis
BY MICHAEL PETTIS
Dennis Rodman calls on Kim Jong Un to do him 'a solid' and release American detainee
BY URI FRIEDMAN
Obama scolds military over sexual assaults
BY KEVIN BARON
3 questions Obama's new AfPak envoy must answer
BY GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON
Odierno: Syrian rebels will prevail, but sequester makes U.S. intervention risky
BY KEVIN BARON
Meet Cody Wilson, the anarchist behind the world's first 3-D printed gun
BY ELIAS GROLL
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