News story from the BBC on the political background to UK government criticism of a report in The Lancet magazine that estimated Iraq deaths since the invasion at 655,000. The BBC says that the British government was advised by its own experts against publicly criticising the report, and that the Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser said the survey's methods were "close to best practice" and the study design was "robust".

A Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress (PDF)entitled "Somalia: Current Conditions and Prospects for a Lasting Peace."

Writing in Frontline, John Cherian documents how mounting civilian deaths in Afghanistan are building support for the Taliban. He says the Taliban is increasing the scope of its operations, citing the fact thatin February the Taliban briefly seized and held the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province.

Amnesty International details how the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan has spread to eastern Chad. Amnesty claims that several thousand people have been killed and that thousands of women and girls have been raped.

A Congressional Research Service report on Afghanistan’s political transition. The report notes that while the insurgency led by remnants of the former Taliban regime escalated in 2006, after several years in which it appeared the Taliban were mostly defeated. Taliban fighters have been conducting large-scale attacks on coalition and Afghan security forces in several southern provinces, possibly assisted by popular frustration with slow reconstruction, official corruption, and the failure to extend Afghan government authority into rural areas and provinces. In addition, narcotics trafficking is resisting counter-measures, and independent militias remain throughout the country, although many have been disarmed.

Partial text of a report from the left-leaning Global Policy Forum on the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The report considers what it calls a ‘failed policy’ in detail, with special emphasis on the U.S. Coalition’s responsibilities under international law. It also considers political and economic issues in Iraq and argues for a speedy withdrawal of Coalition forces

A breakdown of coalition fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan in the six months through December 2006.

This report on Open Democracy and written by Paul Rogers, professor of peace studies at Bradford University, England, argues that without a change of NATO strategy, the prospect for Afghanistan in 2007 is escalating violence.

This article from Anthony H. Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies is based on a trip to Afghanistan in November 2006. It argues that the rise in threat activity in Afghanistan is serious, but must be kept in context, and that the challenges to be overcome are still far less serious than in Iraq. Cordesman adds that the US and NATO scored important victories in 2006, and that while the Bush Administration is already considering major increases in military and economic aid and limited increases in US forces, it is also the case that NATO commanders understand the problems and weaknesses in current NATO forces and rules of engagement, and are seeking to overcome them.

In this report the US Institute for Peace (USIP) details proceedings at its Sudan Peace Forum in December 2006 in which Dr Chester Crocker and Dr Francis Deng co-chaired a discussion of overlapping crises in Darfur, Chad and the Central African Republic. The meeting was prompted by recent comments of the United Nations Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland, who warned that the crises in Darfur, Chad, and CAR are "intimately linked" and could lead to a "dangerous regional crisis."

This article from Roland Paris, associate professor of international and public affairs in the University of Ottawa and argues that NATO’s efforts to stabilize Afghanistan are set to fail. To avoid this, additional NATO troops are required, efforts to build an Afghan army should be accelerated, and corruption in the Afghan government, especially the police, needs to be tackled. Paris also argues that the policy of destroying opium crops is playing into the hands of insurgents, adding that more reconstruction aid is needed in Afghanistan, and that the flow of insurgent fighters from Pakistan also needs to be contained.  

A report from USIP focussing on the October 2006 attack on an Islamic madrassa in Chinagai, a border village in the Bajour province of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and its wider implications. The attack, which killed 82 people, was one of many recent military incursions into the tribal areas. Pakistani officials later claimed that the targets were al Qaeda and pro-Taliban elements. But, the attack occurred even as negotiations for a peace deal—along the lines of an earlier deal in the neighbouring province of North Waziristan—were ongoing between the government of Pakistan, tribal leaders, and local militants in the area. The timing of the attack and the alleged involvement of US military and intelligence assets in the strike caused considerable suspicion throughout the tribal areas and beyond. This report considers the broader questions raised by the attack regarding the stability of the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Pakistan's policies toward these areas, the effects of tribal militancy upon international efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, and the longevity of the United States and Pakistani relationship.

The "July War" showcased Hizballah's evolution into an adaptive, skillful, cohesive fighting force capable of registering some measure of success on the battlefield against a much larger and better equipped enemy, says this report from the Washington Institute.

Human Rights Watch alleges that Hezbollah fired cluster munitions into civilian areas in northern Israel during the recent conflict there.

In this report, Amnesty International argues that the Darfur Peace Agreement of May 2006 has created a new conflict, pitting the government and its allies against the non-signatories.

This USIP special report deals with the question of how to resolve the Pakistan-Afghanistan stalemate.

This is a report on the results of workshops convened by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on alternative outcome scenarios in Iraq. The principal finding is that U.S.goals for Iraq and the region should be re-examined and scaled back.

At the Weinberg Founders Conference 2006, Philip Zelikow, counselor to the State Department, discusses "Building Security in the Broader Middle East".

This policy paper from the Washington Institute says that Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgency, which first emerged in spring 2003, and has grown in scope and capability. It asks what makes the insurgents such difficult targets? How have they been able to survive in the face of major changes to the country's political and military landscape?

This report from the United States Institute of Peace evaluates Iran's role in the most recent Israel-Hezbollah fighting and in the dynamic political scene left in its wake.