Amid political paralysis in Baghdad, the populist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is pressuring lawmakers to approve Prime Minister Abadi’s proposed reforms, says expert Mohamad Bazzi. 

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s recent West Point speech promoted the need for better strategic thinking by the U.S. military to supplant a current emphasis on counterinsurgency tactics and natio…

James M. Lindsay, an expert on U.S. foreign policy, and a former director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses the first presidential debate between Senator John McCain and Senat…

Increased military pressure and reassurances by the United States that it will not pull out of Afghanistan in July 2011 are keys to successful negotiations with the Taliban, says CFR’s Max Boot.

Robert Hormats, the vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, discusses hidden economic costs of the Iraq war and urges frank discussion of the U.S. military budget.