Despite the fall of the Qaddafi regime in Libya, humanitarian intervention still has plenty of critics.

Washington's repeated attempts to bring peace to Somalia with state-building initiatives have failed, even backfired.

The intervention in Somalia was not an abject failure; an estimated 100,000 lives were saved. But its mismanagement should be an object lesson for peacekeepers in Bosnia and on other such missions. No large intervention, military or humanitarian, can remain neutral or assuredly brief in a strife-torn failed state. Nation-building, the rebuilding of a state's basic civil institutions, is required in fashioning a self-sustaining body politic out of anarchy. In the future, the United States, the United Nations, and other intervenors should be able to declare a state "bankrupt" and go in to restore civic order and foster reconciliation.

The mistakes of the U.S. intervention in Somalia should not obscure its successes: a humanitarian tragedy was averted, and the political landscape was improved.

The terrorists who struck Mumbai, India, in November 2008 represent a new breed of tech-savvy militants. Law-enforcement officials face a challenge in keeping pace.

As the humanitarian crisis in Somalia deepens, experts see bleak prospects for reconciliation talks between the transitional government and the Islamist opposition.

Ethiopia is a staunch U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa. But its domestic policies raise questions about the wisdom of the partnership.

After numerous failed peace attempts, Cote d’Ivoire forged a “homegrown” peace agreement this spring, raising questions about the role of international mediators in Africa peace processes.  

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

Africa’s most volatile region appears to be coming apart at the seams. New outbreaks of violence in Somalia and Ethiopia raise fears of a wider war and create a perfect haven for terrorist groups.  

U.S. efforts to staunch the spread of terrorism across northern Africa have increased. But some experts warn excessive focus on counterterrorism there could be counterproductive.

Despite the ouster of the Islamist militia last month, stability in Somalia remains elusive. Its leaders must decide whether to reconcile or return to warlordism.

A U.S. air strike in Somalia may mark the return of a robust U.S. military presence in the Horn of Africa. Though aimed at al-Qaeda operatives within Somalia, the U.S. action could reverberate throughout the region.

Ethiopian troops appear to have won a military victory over Somalia's Islamic Courts militias, who fled Mogadishu Thursday. Their exit leaves a power vacuum in Somalia, and the United States’ focus on counterterrorism in the Horn of Africa may hinder its ability to defuse the crisis.

A long-simmering Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict threatens the entire Horn of Africa, as troop deployments and other actions by the two rivals continue to fuel Somalia’s internal power struggle.

The United States has proposed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a regional peacekeeping force to bring stability to Somalia, but some experts say such a resolution might achieve precisely the opposite.

A new UN report details a complex and troubling exchange that allegedly provided weapons to Somalia’s Islamist power brokers in exchange for dispatching Islamist commandos to Hezbollah and opening Somali uranium mines to Iran.

The conflict between Somalia’s weak interim government and an increasingly powerful Islamist faction simmered all summer. But Ethiopia’s military incursion into the shattered country has raised the stakes.

With Islamic courts firmly in control of Somalia's capital, experts worry that a new Taliban may be emerging in the Horn of Africa.

For over a decade Somalia has been a fractured state providing refuge for international terrorists. Intense fighting on the streets of Mogadishu in recent weeks has renewed fears that Somalia could pose an even greater regional threat.