[escenic_image id="55144526"]After months in which it was not clear just how influential the Tea Party would be and if the anger it channeled would have practical political implications, in the…

[escenic_image id="55150410"]While most Afghanistan observers are looking to major operations in Marjah and Kandahar for signs of how President Obama's new counterinsurgency strategy is progressing,…

[escenic_image id="55149782"]Since its independence in 1919, Afghanistan has been influenced by foreign forces, and the last 30 years of its existence have been characterized by particularly high…

[escenic_image id="55149639"]A day after the one-year anniversary of the disputed June 12 elections, a series of YouTube clips appeared on the web showing a group of plain-clothed young men with a…

[escenic_image id="55143821"]The Haqqani network, an independent insurgent group based in Afghanistan and Pakistan with ties to both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, has come to personify the very…

[escenic_image id="55143773"]Almost a decade after the September 11 attacks, America is still at war with politically-based religious groups and movements. Not only was US foreign policy indelibly…

[escenic_image id="55143676"]The most recent report released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) states that the floods in Pakistan have now directly impacted…

[escenic_image id="55133321"]With skullcaps on their heads, five students aged between 18 and 40 hunch over a text in Arabic. In front of them, legs folded like a yogi, a copy of the same leather…

[escenic_image id="55136516"]Inspired by a chance meeting with the Arabian explorer Wilfred Thesinger, Gardner went on to study Arabic and Islamic Studies at Exeter University. Always the intrepid…

[escenic_image id="55130508"] The intense diplomatic activity that is taking place at different levels in Washington, Paris, Tel Aviv, Riyadh, Beirut and Damascus is a clear sign that something is…