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

From Zero-Sum to Win-Win

September 4, 2008

Economic activity in Bethlehem (AP)

"[A]ll this must occur within a context of political leaders continuing to find means to make progress toward end-game final resolution on the key issues of Jerusalem, borders (settlements), refugees and security, to set the framework for post-transition leadership teams early in 2009."

In this period of change, those focused on shoring up prospects for a secure stable future for the region, with a viable Palestinian state existing alongside a continued democratic Jewish state of Israel, must redouble time, energy and focus on those working on concrete practical measures to build and grow the Palestinian economy, and not in the West Bank alone. …

[W]e must move beyond a focus on tensions between making progress on basic building blocks for the Palestinian economy and the relative risks that might be posed to Israeli security that was on constant display at a recent Economic Cooperation Foundation and Crown Center of Brandeis University conference in Herzliya. Instead, we must focus on economic efforts that will help Palestinian businesses and simultaneously benefit Israeli and Palestinian security; recognizing that these equations need not be zero-sum. Access the full article>>