Research & Commentary Results

This article originally appeared in Foreign Policy.

The Middle East Institute is proud to host author and Brookings senior fellow Stephen P. Cohen for a reading and discussion of his book, Shooting for a Century: The India-Pakistan Conundrum (Brookings Institution Press, 2013). In his latest book, Dr. Cohen explores one of the most intractable conflicts in modern history and examines the parallels with the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, observing how nuclear weapons, minority and victim psychology, and outside powers come into play in both regions. Widely regarded as one of America’s foremost experts on South Asian affairs, Dr.

The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome Vanda Felbab-Brown, senior fellow with the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings, independent consultant Polly Nayak, Amb. Robin Raphel, U.S. Coordinator for Non-Military Assistance to Pakistan, and Alex Thier, assistant to the Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Learning at USAID, for a panel discussion examining how the US can contribute to the stability of post-2014 Afghanistan and Pakistan through economic and development assistance.

Instruments such as the shakuhachi and the nay—though both many centuries old—have seldom met because they come from very distant places. The nay is a piece of reed from the Middle East, while the shakuhachi is bamboo from Japan. Although very simple in substance and shape, their sound has a strong character because they have grown to represent in the most complex ways what they have inherited from the past. When Kamal Helou, my musical partner, and I made these two instruments converse, we knew that we were forcing the laws of time. We found the first musical contact timid—both the shakuhachi and the nay imposing their characters, clinging to their traditional aesthetics. The shakuhachi is sharp and focused, the nay moving and warm. Yet the similarities were evident, both instruments having come to reflect similar ethical questions—the universality of being and the intuition of the soul.

The Arab Awakening: America and the Transformation of the Middle East, by Kenneth Pollack and Daniel Byman et al., 2011

The Middle East Institute’s 66th Annual Conference
November 13-14, 2012
The Grand Hyatt Hotel
1000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Banquet:
Tuesday November 13

Keynote Speaker: Ambassador (Ret.) Ryan C. Crocker
Ryan C. Crocker recently left his post as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
He has also served as U.S. ambassador in Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon.

The Middle East Institute’s 66th Annual Conference
November 13-14, 2012
The Grand Hyatt Hotel
1000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Banquet:
Tuesday November 13

Keynote Speaker: Ambassador (Ret.) Ryan C. Crocker
Ryan C. Crocker recently left his post as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
He has also served as U.S. ambassador in Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon.

The Middle East Institute’s 66th Annual Conference
November 13-14, 2012
The Grand Hyatt Hotel
1000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Banquet:
Tuesday November 13

Keynote Speaker: Ambassador (Ret.) Ryan C. Crocker
Ryan C. Crocker recently left his post as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
He has also served as U.S. ambassador in Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon.

The Middle East Institute’s 66th Annual Conference
November 13-14, 2012
The Grand Hyatt Hotel
1000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Banquet:
Tuesday November 13

Keynote Speaker: Ambassador (Ret.) Ryan C. Crocker
Ryan C. Crocker recently left his post as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
He has also served as U.S. ambassador in Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon.

The Middle East Institute’s 66th Annual Conference
November 13-14, 2012
The Grand Hyatt Hotel
1000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Banquet:
Tuesday November 13

Keynote Speaker: Ambassador (Ret.) Ryan C. Crocker
Ryan C. Crocker recently left his post as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
He has also served as U.S. ambassador in Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon.

Since the overthrow of King Mohammad Zahir Shah in 1973, Afghanistan has been plagued by war — either war waged among ideologues (Marxists v. nationalists) or war marked by foreign invasion and occupation. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which began in 1979, lasted a full decade.

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The Middle East Institute is proud to host Georgetown University professor Paul Pillar for a discussion about Iran and how best to address its nuclear ambitions. Pillar argues that the acceptable range of opinion on Iran has narrowed around the idea that all options, including a military strike, must be pursued to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons. And yet, Pillar argues, if the combination of nuclear talks and sanctions do not yield the outcome the West and Israel seek, containment is preferable to war.

Panelists will explore both the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition of the U.S.-Iraqi partnership from a mainly military to a diplomatic one. What sort of working relationship is emerging between the U.S. and Iraqi governments? What kind of cooperation is taking place in the areas of domestic and regional security, diplomacy, trade, energy, and reform? How has the troop drawdown affected U.S. influence in Iraq and the region in general? Feltman, Istrabadi and Serwer will explore strategies and policies resulting from the new bilateral dynamics.

Recent media reports indicate that fewer Afghan women turned out to vote for a President on August 20, 2009 than went to the polls five years ago, when in some districts female turnout had been even higher than that of males. Apprehension, convention, ennui, and disorganization led to families keeping their women home on election day, even as men dared to vote. The reversal of women’s rights, which they had only recently begun to exercise, is an ominous sign.