Britain's decision to talk to Hezbollah is a nuanced move, but any call for disarmament is likely to fall on deaf ears

David Miliband told the Lebanese Daily Star this week that he believed "carefully considered contact with Hezbollah's politicians, including its MPs, will best advance our objective of the...

The car bombs that ripped into hundreds of residents of Baghdad over the weekend are a message that if politics cannot take place within the parliament, then violence will take place on the street.

It takes a certain death toll for Iraq to make it back on to the headlines....

As Britain sends more troops to Afghanistan, a statement that it is 'not Berkshire' lays bare the contradictions in our foreign policy

Brigadier Buster Howes, head of overseas operations at the Ministry of Defence, spoke in a Chatham House/Radio 4 panel discussion on Afghanistan last week. But if people were...

In the shadow of political inertia, powerful mafia groups are flourishing in the 'new' Iraq

In the past month several high-profile incidents have highlighted what Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, the chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, described as the outbreak of "a frenzy of violent crime" in Iraq. Writing in...

Last week NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen reaffirmed the alliance's commitment to Afghanistan, making the point that, "NATO will stay for as long as it takes to succeed ... but that does not mean forever." For NATO and Western forces to leave Afghanistan as a "stable and secure" state, indigenous...

General Petraeus's successful counter-insurgency plan for the predominately urban Iraq is being stretched in rural Afghanistan

The next month is a pivotal time for America's Afghanistan strategy. The Senate is expected to vote on the Obama administration's $128bn request to fund war operations in Afghanistan and Iraq for the coming...

Lebanese prime-minister-in-waiting Saad Hariri has rolled the political dice in presenting a cabinet for approval to the president without a national consensus.

More than three months have passed since the June 7 elections supposedly boosted the pro-western March 14 alliance and curbed the democratic legitimacy of the Hezbollah-led March 8...

Finally we have a film set against the backdrop of the Iraq war that is a success.

Some put this down to the timing of The Hurt Locker and the fact that for many Americans the war is perceived as over. Afghanistan is the new crucible of conflict, allowing...

The shift in allegiances of Lebanon's chameleon-like Druze leader has sent tremors through the country's political system.

For almost three months the headlines of Lebanon's papers have told a similar story of the deadlock in forming a cabinet. The optimism that followed the victory of the March 14 alliance --...

The beaches are crowded, the restaurants full, but the Lebanese rumour mill talks of another war around the corner

Lebanon is truly the two-faced Janus of the Middle East. As the country revels in a tourism boom and Beirut's beaches and restaurants brim with visitors, beneath the surface there is...

The success of Iraq's footballers in transcending ethnic-sectarian identity provides an example the government could follow

The pull-back of US troops in Iraq has focused attention on the country's biggest fault lines: its sub-national ethnic and sectarian divisions.

Both the US vice president, Joe Biden, and ambassador, Christopher Hill, recently...

Living for a few days as an Afghan villager or international soldier would show Western civilians the realities of war.

The paradox of Afghanistan, columnist Bruce Anderson wrote last week, is that "the modern British public has never admired its armed forces more, or understood them less".

This paradox is...

Iraq's increasing environmental problems may destabilize the fragile security gains of the last two years.

At the start of the month, the US vice-president Joe Biden visited Iraq unannounced to consolidate his position as Obama's Mesopotamia point-man. While the visit looked to back up the withdrawal of US troops from...

Later policy reversals may help Bush's Iraq legacy, but his invasion destroyed a nation and unleashed internal conflict

Iraq will be a cornerstone of Bush's presidential legacy. A large building block of this legacy will appear in 2013 when the George W Bush library opens on the campus of the...

The withdrawal of US troops from Iraq's urban areas is a critical test of the institutions set up in the past six years

"Iraqi solutions to Iraqi problems" and "an end to occupation" -- well-worn phrases favored by all sides. Stakeholders in Iraq will be suddenly tested by the withdrawal...

While Lebanon's democratic election should be celebrated, it will not affect the power currents running beneath the surface.

Before we get carried away with excitement at the victory of the "pro-western" (US and Saudi backed) 14 March alliance in the Lebanese election, it is worth remembering that real power in...

If the Sunnis are marginalised from the political process, instead of fighting al-Qaida they may revert to supporting them.

Recent events in AfPak, Sri Lanka and North Korea have diverted attention away from the fragile transition occurring in Iraq. The country is still highly unstable; April was the bloodiest month...

US policy towards Syria is an important element of its approach to a region where conflicts and alliances are interconnected.

To succeed in the Middle East Barack Obama will need to balance micro and macro policy in the correct order. The interconnected nature of conflicts and alliances in the Middle...

During the Bush years a regular heard sound-byte concerning the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was that 'commanders on the ground' were taking the lead in decision making. Unpopular wars were being fought by a popular military that the White House conveniently hid behind to mask its own failures of...

Too much or too little US involvement could spell disaster for Obama's approach in countries ridden by internal conflict

Much of the focus on the new Obama administration's foreign policy has been about his willingness to talk to his enemies. High-profile diplomatic olive branches have already been offered to Iran,...