Afghanistan Attacks in Iraq Perspective

April 29, 2009

Recently, news stories out of Afghanistan have focused heavily on the increase in violence there.  As the U.S. sends more troops into the country to improve the security situation, the upward trend of violence is certainly concerning.  However, it is helpful to put the violence into perspective.  A new ISW Graph shows how violence levels in Afghanistan compare to violence levels in Iraq.  The ISW Graph provides a startling sense of what is happening on the ground in Afghanistan. 

Earlier this month, Iraq’s Council of Representatives (CoR) elected Ayad al-Samaraie as the new speaker of parliament, filling the spot vacated by Mahmoud al-Mashadani nearly six months ago.  In a new Backgrounder, Selection of Speaker Reveals Shifting Coalitions in Iraqi Parliamentary Politics, ISW Research Analyst Jeremy Domergue looks at the political maneuvering surrounding the speaker’s seat, and what the shifting politics might mean for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.