Gen. David Petraeus

The insurgents could respond by targeting the Pakistani army in Waziristan or sending fighters across the porous border into Afghanistan.

An early adopter of counterinsurgency strategy, now conventional wisdom, will serve as observer to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s visit to the White House.

In Hillary Clinton’s first major foreign policy address as secretary of state, she made the case for changes in how the Obama administration’s national security agenda will be carried out.