Al-Qaeda
Biden’s victories look a lot like defeats
Joe Biden’s week did not get off to a good start. When running for office in 2020 he repeatedly boasted…
The fiasco of the century
There was certainly no shortage of excellent advice about war in Afghanistan offered to many American leaders by many people over many years, says Justin Marozzi
Al Qaeda and Iran’s dangerous partnership
What does the world’s foremost Shia power and the most notorious Sunni terror group have in common? Given that the…
The wars go on
America’s longest war has just entered its 20th year. The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to overthrow the Taliban…
Twin peaks
There must be some people somewhere who vaguely know their own spouses — but if so, they don’t tend to…
Double agents and dog-ears
When will the definitive history of the modern Middle East be written? For 20 years and more, a continent has…
The European fighters who battled Isis – and were abandoned by their governments
Foreign fighters are returning from the battlefield — not Islamists but the Americans, Europeans and South Americans who fought to…
As Assad recovers, Syria is returning to stability
In order to avoid the Labour conference and yet more predictable media attacks on Jeremy Corbyn, I escaped late last…
The caliphate strikes back
Isis could be on the brink of creating a terrifying new world order
Why I left
I cannot be part of a movement run by half-educated fanatics
Monumental heroes
Syrians, Libyans and Malians are risking their lives to save ancient treasures from Islamists – with shamefully little help from us
Barometer
Gesture politics A royal home movie from 1933 apparently showed the future Queen, aged seven, and her mother giving a…
Vespasian vs Islamic State
As Ahmed Rashid argued last week, it is hard to see what the West is doing in the Middle East,…
Al-Qaeda could end up the big winners in Syria
Fear has driven the Arab states to support the West’s great enemy
Portrait of the week
Home Talha Asmal, aged 17, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, died in a suicide bomb attack on forces near an oil…
Shifting sands in Saudi
Why America’s once-cautious ally suddenly looks so skittish
Portrait of the week
Home Launching the Conservative party manifesto, David Cameron, the party leader, told voters he wanted to ‘turn the good news…
The hype jihad
Isis slaughters kidnap victims because it guarantees headlines. It's better at slaughtering innocents than it is at winning wars
The ransom business
Islamic State commanders know exactly how to extract the greatest possible profit from their hostages. Some care about little else
East up West
David Baddiel has turned his movie, The Infidel, into a musical. The set-up is so contrived and clumsy that it…
Dirty dealing
Jonathan Powell is best known as Tony Blair’s fixer. He was intimately involved with the Northern Ireland peace process, about…
The wolf in all of us
I had an interesting discussion with my friend Aidan Hartley earlier this week about whether the young men fighting for…
Mr al-Baghdadi’s inspirational vision for Europe
There is something attractive about almost the whole of southern Europe being part of an immense and somewhat rigorous caliphate,…
Good luck finding goodies and baddies in Iraq
If there’s a bright spot in the murky mess of Iraq, it’s that finally we have a war that it…
The new Iraq war
Seven weeks ago, Barack Obama proclaimed that ‘it’s time to turn the page on more than a decade of war’.…
