Obama’s Inheritance: The Opportunity Costs of the Iraq War

David Sanger, Chief Washington Correspondent for The New York Times, drew a large and attentive audience to our auditorium last night for his lecture, “The World Obama Confronts.” Although accounts of the Iraq War often focus on its direct costs, Sanger, in his lecture and recently published first book, The Inheritance, explores the depth of [...]

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Council Speaker May Play Critical Role in Afghan Government

Helene Cooper of The New York Times just reported that former Ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan and the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, may assume a position near the top of  Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government. The news of this proposal comes on the heels of Ambassador Khalilzad’s appearance at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco [...]

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Inside Perspective on Iraq, Afghanistan, the Taliban and the Greater Middle East

With a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, former ambassador under President George W. Bush to the United Nations, Iraq and Afghanistan, joined the Council this past week for an in-depth discussion on the Middle East. At the outset, he humbly noted that during his time in [...]

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The Taliban, Foreign Policy and the War on Terror

As violence and tension rises among Islamic militant groups and the Taliban, award-winning author, scholar of religions, and columnist for The Daily Beast, Reza Aslan, joined the World Affairs Council for a discussion on his new book How to Win a Cosmic War.  Examining the worldview of Muslim militant groups and the previous administration’s approach [...]

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Elections Postponed in Afghanistan

A post on The Daily Beast today highlights the decision made by Afghan officials to postpone elections for another four months to allow thousands of incoming US troops to improve security beforehand. The elections are now scheduled for August 20, 2009 – but could be pushed back even further, seeing as “the electoral commission [...]

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Madeleine Albright on Priorities for Obama’s Administration

Today, the Council on Foreign Relations hosted the first session of the Center for Preventative Action Symposium on preventative priorities for the next administration. Madeleine K. Albright, Principal, The Albright Group and former U.S. Secretary of State, moderated the event with CFR President Richard N. Haass. Interestingly, panels throughout the day did not [...]

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