Publications
Articles, publications, books, tools and multimedia features from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest news, analysis, research findings, practitioner guides and reports, all related to the conflict zones and issues that are at the center of the Institute’s work to prevent and reduce violent conflict.
Two Years Under the Taliban: Is Afghanistan a Terrorist Safe Haven Once Again?
Two years into Taliban rule, the question of whether Afghanistan would once again become a safe haven for international terrorism remains alive. Longstanding fears were affirmed a little over a year ago, when the U.S. government located al-Qaeda leader Aimen al-Zawahiri in Kabul, Afghanistan, before killing him in a drone strike. The fact that the Taliban would bring Zawahiri back to Kabul, despite repeated assurances to U.S. negotiators both before and after the Doha agreement that they had distanced themselves from al-Qaeda, significantly elevated concerns.
¿Elegirán los votantes o los tribunales al próximo presidente de Guatemala?
Los guatemaltecos acuden a las urnas el 20 de agosto para votar en la segunda vuelta de las elecciones presidenciales. Ambos candidatos provienen de la centroizquierda del país: Sandra Torres, activista veterana, que ya se ha presentado dos veces a las elecciones presidenciales, y Bernardo Arévalo, quien lidera un partido relativamente nuevo y cuya sorprendente victoria lo ha llevado por primera vez a la segunda vuelta.
Piecing Together the Fragments of Memory to Find Vietnamese War Dead
On the afternoon of March 12, 2022, I received an urgent message from Lâm Hồng Tiên, an engineer and close friend who has dedicated more than a decade to researching Vietnam War documents. He informed me about the discovery of a mass grave of soldiers from the 22nd Regiment of the People’s Army of (North) Vietnam (PAVN) who died in a fierce battle in the early morning of December 27, 1966, in Bình Định province. This was not an ordinary discovery — it resulted from the recollection of some U.S. veterans who buried the soldiers after the battle. I was elated by the finding, as I felt we could do something meaningful with it.
It Is Time to Account for All Missing Vietnamese
As the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War approaches in 2025, the subject of remains recovery, those missing in action, and the memorialization of war-related dead from the Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam) deserves attention. While the governments of the United States and Vietnam have attempted to locate and honor fallen soldiers, the war dead affiliated with the former RVN have not been officially recognized or effectively addressed.
What to Expect from the Trilateral Summit with Japan and South Korea
After months of steadily increasing diplomatic exchanges — and a historic thaw in tensions between South Korea and Japan — President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at Camp David for a trilateral summit on August 18. The three leaders have previously met on the sidelines of larger multilateral forums, such as last year’s NATO summit, but the Camp David meeting marks the first standalone leader-level summit between the three countries.
Why We Should Back Ukraine’s Diplomatic Long Game
A number of commentators have criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s latest peace summit in Jeddah for failing to produce tangible deliverables. What these criticisms miss is that Ukraine is playing a game of diplomatic attrition aimed at countering Russia’s central objective: international acquiescence to its violent seizure of a neighbor’s territory. The United States should support Ukraine’s efforts, most immediately by seeking a U.N.-sanctioned conference on the sidelines of next month's U.N. General Assembly session.
Why the BRICS Summit Could Be a Big Deal
The leaders of the so-called BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are gathering in Johannesburg this week in what is likely to be pivotal meeting for the bloc’s trajectory. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending due to an International Criminal Court warrant. But Moscow and Beijing will be pushing for the group’s expansion in a bid to strengthen the bloc as an alternative to the U.S.-led liberal international order. Over 40 countries have applied to join. But there is division within the five members. Brazil and India fear that expansion will dilute their influence and impact their nonaligned foreign policies.
How Commemoration Can Help Unite a Divided Libya
In the al-Washishi district of Benghazi a burnt-out car stands in memorial to a slain Libyan National Army (LNA) special forces fighter, serving as a city-wide reflection of the country’s 2014-2017 civil war. The car belonged to Salem (Afareet) Al-Naili, whose father was brutally murdered, one of the many victims of terrorist violence in the city. Inspired by the personal loss of his father, Salem threw himself into the fighting in the city’s civil war and was ultimately also assassinated.
To Protect the Amazon, Target Transnational Criminal Networks
Earlier this month, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, often referred to as “Lula,” resurrected the moribund Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) with the group’s first summit in 14 years. Originally formed in 1995, ACTO was intended as a regional forum for its eight member-states to coordinate efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest. But prior to this month's meeting in Belém, Brazil, the organization had been mostly dormant since Lula’s first stint as Brazil’s president ended in 2010.
In Latin America, the U.S. Should Put Democratic Partnerships Front and Center
One of the most sage and skilled diplomats of the last century, the late Secretary of State George Shultz, used the analogy of a “garden” to describe the essential work of quiet statecraft. A healthy garden needs constant care and tending, he would say, as validation of the importance of sitting down with friends on a regular basis to discuss trends and developments in the absence of crisis flashpoints. This is exactly the type of approach that Costa Rica has warranted because of its strong commitment to democratic governance.