Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
The Trump administration called for early elections in Iraq amid protests in the country but the vote, if it took place, may not play out in Washington’s favour, US experts said. Influential Iraqi Shia leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called November 15 for a new election law that...
The President of Iraq has condemned the deadly attacks against protestors during anti-government rallies over the last seven days. More people were killed overnight, taking the death toll beyond 110. Witnesses say security forces have opened fire on...
A series of Islamic State (IS) announcements of new provinces it controls in recent weeks has renewed debate over the group’s possible resurgence after its self-proclaimed caliphate fell, with some analysts warning an increasingly decentralized IS could...
As the world’s ‘worst humanitarian crisis’ festers, the local dynamics of the conflict remain overshadowed. Yemen’s ongoing conflict began in 2014 when Houthi rebels stormed the country’s capital, Sana’a, which led Saudi Arabia to form a coalition in an attempt restore...
Iraqi demonstrators clashed with security forces in Basra on Tuesday after blocking the governorate's headquarters amid widespread protests against corruption and poor public services. The country, in political limbo ahead of forming a new government, has been...
From the America Abroad series: Joshua Johnson of 1A hosts a "Town Hall" about Iraq's future. In May, Iraqis went to the polls to elect a new national parliament. It was the first election since the defeat of ISIS in Iraq.
When Iraqis last headed to the polls for parliamentary elections four years ago, ISIS militants were on their way to violently claim large parts of the country's territory. This weekend, residents will be voting for the first time since victory over the insurgency was declared.
Since 2003, Iranian influence has deepened in Iraq through a wide array of Shiite militias. Several militia leaders and politicians spent years in exile in Tehran during Saddam Hussein’s reign in the 1980s and 1990s. One of Iraq’s most powerful armed groups, the Badr Organization, was formed in 1982 by Iraqi exiles to fight Hussein with the support of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
With the Islamic State defeated in Iraq, policymakers in Washington have shifted gears to focus on rebuilding communities displaced by the conflict. Yet there are already conflicts in the administration about how best to channel humanitarian and development assistance.
The Trump administration has decided to steer humanitarian aid funding to Christian and other minority communities in Iraq, against the advice of some officials at the State Department and others at the United Nations, who initially feared the move could backfire.