Foreign Policy
Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - 05:55
The top American watchdog for Afghanistan’s reconstruction is investigating whether a Pentagon task force charged with juicing Afghanistan’s moribund economy misspent millions of taxpayer dollars on lavish overseas travel and complicated development projects that did little to create new jobs or spur new growth in the country.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - 07:06
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s recent visit to Baghdad and his tense meetings with leaders there have left some American officials worried about Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s commitment toward reconciliation with Iraq’s embattled Sunni minority, which is key to the U.S.-led effort to rebuild the Iraqi military forces and defeat the Islamic State.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - 06:43
President Barack Obama has yet to decide whether he will sign legislation passed by Congress last week that would allow him to provide weapons to Ukraine’s ramshackle military and increase the penalties on Russia’s energy sector, setting up a confrontation with the GOP-held Congress in the new year.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - 06:17
The extent of the problem is illustrated best by the response Ebola necessitated: a U.S.-led contingency operation, cobbled together on the fly and building capacity on the ground from scratch.
Friday, December 12, 2014 - 06:29
In a grim assessment of the U.S.-backed Syrian rebels, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday that the country’s armed opposition will not be able to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad now or in the foreseeable future, despite the existence of a Pentagon program to train and equip 5,000 rebels per year.
Thursday, December 11, 2014 - 05:51
Why has Liberia -- once the epicenter of the outbreak -- been able to stop a rampaging killer disease, while the country next door can't even count its dead?
Thursday, December 11, 2014 - 05:50
Why has Liberia -- once the epicenter of the outbreak -- been able to stop a rampaging killer disease, while the country next door can't even count its dead?
Tuesday, December 9, 2014 - 06:36
The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Monday refused to rule out sending weapons to the Ukrainian army, but insisted that the crisis in Ukraine would be solved with diplomacy, not armies.
Thursday, December 4, 2014 - 06:44
The Hague’s International Criminal Court has long avoided pointing the finger at U.S. misdeeds in Afghanistan. That truce is about to end.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - 05:02
One day after announcing that Chuck Hagel is being dismissed as defense secretary, his greatest foreign-policy legacy -- relations with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government -- seems to be evaporating. Egypt's interior minister warned on Tuesday, Nov. 25, that police will not hesitate to use deadly force against Islamist protesters during a planned demonstration on Friday, which represents the first serious challenge to Sisi's government since elections in June.