In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

11/20/08: Pakistan: Learning the Right Lessons from Iraq —Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.
11/13/08: The View from Gaza —Taghreed El-Khodary, New York Times journalist in Gaza and Harvard University Nieman Fellow (2005-2006). Interviewed by Middle East Bulletin.
11/04/08: Getting on the Right Track —Dalia Rabin, chairperson, Rabin Center, and daughter of the late Yitzhak Rabin. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

Keeping Focus on Long-Term Objectives

“[W]hile we do need to have a cooperative approach that involves many of our friends and allies in meeting with the Pakistanis, … as we work out with them a rough division of labor, the U.S., I believe, ought to be taking the lead in addressing the issues in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. And given the difficulty of doing so, I suspect that we will not have a great deal of difficulty in convincing them to allow us to take the lead there. But as we all know, there is a real tension between our short-term tactical aims in trying to capture or kill terrorists across the border and militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and our longer- term counterinsurgency pacification goals. We very much need to be focusing on the end state. What is it that we want this area to look like? ... In that context we need to have a common agenda with the Pakistani government and very much to include the military on counterinsurgency in that area. There needs to be, therefore, a focus on combining military efforts with economic, development and political development in those areas.”
—Robert L. Grenier, managing director and chairman for Global Security Consulting, Kroll, event, “Partnership for Progress: Advancing a New Strategy for Prosperity and Stability in Pakistan and the Region,” Center for American Progress, November 17, 2008

Middle East Analysis

Partnership for Progress —Caroline Wadhams, Brian Katulis, Lawrence J. Korb & Colin Cookman, Center for American Progress
Dealing With Pakistan Is Risky Business —Lee H. Hamilton, president, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, former chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee
How Not to Lose Afghanistan (and Pakistan) —Peter Bergen, senior fellow, New America Foundation

No More Time to Waste

November 28, 2007

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)

If Israel wants to remain a secure and democratic Jewish homeland, it must now set a clear timetable for negotiations with the Palestinians dealing with all final-status issues - borders, refugees and Jerusalem. These have all been discussed before, and PA President Mahmoud Abbas has shown himself to be a serious interlocutor - not for love of Zionism, to be sure, but out of desire to preserve a pragmatic Palestinian policy in the face of Hamas. Our goals are equally self-serving, so there is no question here of "concessions" to a poor partner. …

If nothing else, Annapolis showed the depth to which the Middle East’s pragmatic players want engagement with Israel and Abbas in order to strengthen regional security and off-set Iran’s spreading influence. Who would have imagined a day when Syria and Saudi Arabia would share a conference space with the Jewish state while their longtime proxy Hamas was excluded?

This consensus is an enormous asset that Israel must not squander, lest it fall apart in a pool of cynicism. The pan-Arab enthusiasm for an Israeli-Palestinian accord could be translated into gains for the Olmert government on the ground - for example, keeping West Bank settlement blocs under an equitable land swap with Abbas’ administration. …

We are at a critical junction. Do we have the ability to move forward with the peace process in an attempt to reach an agreement? Or would miss the opportunity and wake up in a few years to witness how Hamas takes over. Access the full article>>