Foreign Policy | featured news

Republican presidential contenders jousted over Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East on Tuesday night in a tense national security debate that laid out sharply contrasting views on how to keep America safe from attack.

The Republican candidates for president outlined their foreign policy and national security visions in a debate Saturday, tackling issues that have largely taken a backseat in a presidential race that has been shaped by the troubled economy.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he "can't stand" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has called him a "liar."

His troubles began once he vaulted into the top tier of Republican candidates, after introducing his 9-9-9 tax plan and winning a straw poll. Now his blunders on abortion, immigration and foreign policy have left political observers scratching their heads ...

The demise of Moammar Gaddafi is big news around the world. Note to the Republican presidential candidates: This will come as a shock, but there are lots of other countries out there, and what happens in some of them is really important. Anyone who wants to serve as commander in chief should be paying attention.

When Republican candidate Mitt Romney attacked President Obama for conducting a "feckless" foreign policy, the White House had a ready answer. It came from a Republican. White House spokesman Jay Carney quoted this particular Republican as saying: "I've been very supportive of the President's decisions in Iraq and Afghanistan ... When you look at the prosecution of the war effort against the enemy in the tribal areas, there's clearly been more done under President Obama than there was under President Bush in terms of a more aggressive effort focused at them." "So said John Boehner, Speaker of the House, highest elected Republican in the land," Carney dutifully reported.

President Barack Obama may have a string of counterterrorism successes and earned high marks from the public on foreign policy, but neither is likely to help him hold the White House....

Seeking to defuse a major diplomatic confrontation, President Obama said the only way to achieve the goal was for the Palestinians and Israelis to resume direct negotiations.

Wading into a tense foreign policy dispute, Republican presidential candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney on Tuesday criticized the Palestinian Authority's effort to seek a formal recognition of statehood by the U.N. General Assembly. The GOP rivals also used the jockeying at the U.S. to assail President Barack Obama's policy toward Israel.

Vice President Biden mistakenly claimed Americans own 85% of U.S. Treasury securities during his visit to China.