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.
In announcing thousands of troops would be pulled out of Afghanistan, President Donald Trump was meeting the mood of the United States but also opening the door to growing, if still limited, influence by US adversaries, experts say. Iran, China, Russia, Pakistan and India all...
Violence is escalating in Ethiopia, where a leader once lauded internationally for his reform agenda and forging peace with neighboring Eritrea faces the specter of civil war. This month, long-simmering tensions between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government in Addis Ababa and...
Gashaw Koye, a 42-year-old farmer from Amhara dressed in crisp new battle fatigues, met his wife from the neighbouring region of Tigray more than two decades ago. Now, as part of an army mustered by Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, he is preparing to fight...
A little war in the Caucasus has opened a big window into the future of conflict. With the strategic importance of drones and the reaffirmation of Russia’s grip over its own backyard, the bloody faceoff between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the hotly long-contested...
America’s large military presence in Afghanistan may be finally coming to an end after almost 20 years at war. Decisions on when and how the U.S. will significantly reduce its presence will play out early next year, national security analysts say. Almost 800,000 U.S. troops have...
Suddenly Ethiopia appears on the brink of civil war, threatening the stability of one of the world’s most strategic regions, the Horn of Africa, and the fracturing of one of Africa’s most powerful and populous countries. But the crisis in Ethiopia, a key U.S. security ally, has been...
When Libyan representatives gather in Tunisia on Monday to begin charting a political future of their war-torn country, they will be restrained by a remarkable precondition: A seat at the table requires giving up personal ambition. The participants, including both the...
As members of the bipartisan senior study group on peace and security in the Red Sea arena, we are watching with grave concern the situation in Ethiopia. While many of the facts remain unclear, the risks of escalation are certain: Intrastate or interstate conflict would be catastrophic for Ethiopia’s people and for the region and would pose a direct threat to international peace and security. The acceleration of polarization amid violent conflict would also mark the death knell for the country’s nascent reform effort that began two years ago and the promise of a democratic transition that it heralded.
Ethiopia’s army said Thursday the country has been forced into an “unexpected and aimless war” with its well-armed Tigray region, while Tigray asserted that fighter jets had bombed areas around its capital — a marked escalation with little sign of the two sides willing to talk to calm the...
After each of Kyrgyzstan’s first two revolutions, the country’s main partners — like Russia — were rather quick to recognize the new leadership and establish a continuity of relations. For the country’s third go-around of political upheaval, recognition was slower to...