Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced July 29 that President Trump wanted a U.S. troop drawdown in Afghanistan before the 2020 election—something the president has wanted in the past, but it has yet to happen. It’s been nearly 18 years since the United States invaded Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, in response to the 9/11 […]
Iraq
Data Shows Declining Support for U.S. in Middle East
WASHINGTON—Preference for stronger U.S. relations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has dropped in Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon since 2016, according to new data from the Arab Barometer, a nonpartisan research network providing insight into social, political, and economic attitudes of citizens throughout the Arab world. The findings were presented at the […]
Perspective: Family Terror Connections Foster Radicalization
Family terror networks—or alternatively, family-affiliated terrorism—involve two or more people from the same clan who support the threat or use of terrorism. Kin terrorism has appeared across diverse views from religiously motivated precepts to national liberation, and from hate-based ideologies to other viewpoints. Family structures enable higher instances of conversion to radical beliefs given the […]
Syria Withdrawal and Impact on U.S. and Allies
From In Homeland Security A mere six days after President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria, Israel initiated an air strike near Damascus that targeted Iranian and Hezbollah missile locations. Whether Trump’s announcement played any role in the Israeli decision to strike the missile storage site is unknown. Although Israel has struck […]
Liberalism Key to Christian Survival Around the Globe
From First Things A vast oblong of Islamist, authoritarian, or sectarian persecution stretches from Egypt, Eritrea, Turkey, and Sudan, all the way to China and North Korea, across India and Pakistan. According to a recent report published by Aid to the Church in Need, “the persecution of Christians is today worse than at any time […]