What exactly is foreign policy, and how is it created? I have found that most people I meet have a hard time pinning down an exact answer. What most people do know, however, is that foreign policy is crucial in today’s world. Particularly with the 2016 election coming up, it is sure to be a popular topic of discussion. So how can there be so much confusion about a topic so important? As the process of forming foreign policy has shifted and changed over time, understanding of the term has stayed rooted in antiquated ideas of what foreign policy...

By Angela Aggeler and Jonathan Foldi On December 16, 2014, I sat in my office in Islamabad, Pakistan and watched in horror as the death toll from an assault on a school in Peshawar rose higher and higher.  Members of the Pakistani Taliban had attacked the Army Public School and killed over 140 people – 132 of them children.  This horrific event, however, inspired us at Embassy Islamabad to counter with something positive for that school’s survivors. The result was the U.S.–Pakistan Global Leadership and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Program.  For two weeks in late July to early...