President Bush inserted the United States firmly into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as leaders from all sides set a deadline for negotiating an elusive peace treaty. 

Michael Gerson argues that the U.S. must “encourage liberal forces that might someday compete with radical Islam for the future of strategically important states.”

India has reacted cautiously to Pakistan’s political crisis but there is concern the nuclear-armed neighbors’ rapprochement could be damaged.

Daniel Markey, a former State Department specialist on South Asia, says Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's emergency decree runs the risk of alienating so many different opposition groups that a more radical element could take power.

A Senate proposal calling for the restructuring of Iraq’s government has drawn fire from Iraqis who liken it to partition. Amid the criticism have emerged other controversial options.

Pakistani air strikes along its Afghan border punctuate recent clashes between militants and the Pakistani army. But some officials worry Pakistan’s aggressive response is too little, too late.

Marvin G. Weinbaum, a veteran analyst on Pakistan and Afghanistan, says Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has won time for himself by agreeing to resign as army chief, but could still face a major crisis if reelected on October 6.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaks about the stability and foreign policy of the region,

Ambassador John M. Yates, U.S. special envoy to Somalia, says the security situation remains dismal in Mogadishu and the Somali people lack confidence in the Transitional Federal Government.

Stephen Biddle, CFR’s top military analyst on Iraq, says the only analytically sound alternatives in Iraq are to either pull out now, or to stick with a revamped “surge.”

A rise in suicide bombings suggests the “surge” in American forces may be failing. That has military analysts updating their views of how the United States will begin to detach itself from the Iraq War.  

Watch Robert E. Hunter of the RAND Corporation, Robert A. Malley of the International Crisis Group, and Dennis B. Ross of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, reflect on the past forty years of the Middle East peace process and debate strategies for the future.

Listen to Robert E. Hunter of the RAND Corporation, Robert A. Malley of the International Crisis Group, and Dennis B. Ross of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, reflect on the past forty years of the Middle East peace process and debate strategies for the future.

Despite international intervention to protect Somalia’s fledgling government, fighting persists while the humanitarian situation deteriorates. Regional stability is at risk once again.

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iranian-American who served for several years in Iran for the International Crisis Group, says he believes elements within the Revolutionary Guards have an economic motivation in keeping Iran relatively isolated in the world.

A leading Mideast expert, Martin S. Indyk, says Israeli troops are likely to enter Gaza to end Hamas-directed rocket attacks, with the hope of yielding to international peacekeepers.