The burning of a Quran at a Florida church has set off a wave of violence in Afghanistan. Thousands of protesters mobbed the United Nations building in Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday. Seven U.N. workers were murdered, and protests against the United States raged in Kandahar over the weekend, killing dozens. President Obama and General David Petraeus condemned the Florida pastor’s actions. Including the U.N. workers, 24 people have died since protests began last Friday.

Syria is the latest in a list of countries like Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya, as disenfranchised citizens in that country have gone to the streets in recent weeks, to protest President Bashar al-Assad's eleven-year reign. The protests have been met with violence; dozens have been reportedly killed by security forces. In response to the protests, the government has repeatedly suggested it may lift the country's emergency law — which allows the leadership to arrest without cause or warrant among other powers — as a concession to protesters. But many are already calling it a bluff. 

With support from coalition forces in the air, Libyan rebel forces have been able to recapture recent losses and are pushing towards Col. Moammar Gadhafi's strongholds. However, the U.S. is committed to passing responsibility on and Defense Secretary Robert Gates told NBC's "Meet the Press," "beginning this week or within the next week or so, we will begin to diminish the commitment of resources that we have committed to this." Marcus Mabry, editor-at-large of the International Herald Tribune, looks at how the impact of a U.S. drawdown could impact the situation in Libya.

When a Libyan woman burst into the Tripoli hotel where foreign journalists convened, her story of rape at the hands of Gadhafi's militia men was heard around the world. Correspondent for The New York Times David Kirkpatrick was there. Her story is that she was abducted and tortured, but government officials are saying that she’s a prostitute with a long criminal record. She was beaten and dragged away by security officials. David Kirkpatrick says that Libyan officials had said that reporters would be able to talk to her again, but that this is unlikely. 

Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya: Friend or foe? That question is getting harder to answer, as crackdowns on protests in the Middle East by U.S. allied governments blur the lines. Just in December, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Bahrain for its progress on the road to democracy. Today, the State Department reaped criticism for their weak stance against the police violence that has left at least six dead. But how will the U.S. realign itself, should Shiite protestors topple the government in Bahrain — a strategic partner that guarantees military access to the region? And what about Yemen, an ally against terrorist forces in the region? What will the new U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East look like after the wave of change is over?

When news broke that Mubarak was stepping down, Takeaway listeners responded. Lindsay Knapp wrote to us: 

When I said this morning that Egypt was having a 1776 moment, I had no idea how true it would be! 18 days of protest have changed a nation — congratulations to all the people of Egypt, and welcome to democracy.

This week, Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense for much of the George W. Bush administration, released his memoir, "Known and Unknown." The former Secretary of Defense is known for his phrasing and we take a listen back to his language, and his unapologetic legacy.

As Washington prepares for a visit from Chinese President Hu Jintao this week, we take a look at what lies ahead in the shifting relationship between superpowers. Should we fear the "waking dragon"? We're joined by Gideon Rachman, chief foreign-affairs commentator for the Financial Times and author of "Zero-Sum Future: American Power in an Age of Anxiety," and Simon Tay, was an Asia Society 2009 Bernard Schwartz Fellow and is Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. He is also the author of "Asia Alone: The Dangerous Post-Crisis Divide from America."

The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that 60 percent of Americans say the Afghanistan war is "not worth fighting." This is a record low in public support of the war. Mary Galeti, the wife of Afghanistan veteran First Lieutenant Russell Galeti, and Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs and author of "How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle," describe their observations of public opinion, and what it might mean for the Obama administration's efforts in Afghanistan going forward.

20 million people have been affected by the floods in Pakistan in the past three weeks, in what some say is the worst natural catastrophe in recent history. However, even with the United Nations calling for $459 million for immediate relief efforts, aid assistance is still only trickling in. Whether it is "compassion fatigue," lack of funds or a distrust in the Pakistani government's transparency – the real question is, will a failure to act now have greater foreign policy implications for the future stability of the region?

In March, a South Korean warship was torpedoed, killing 46 sailors and sinking the vessel. Recent evidence strongly implicates North Korea as the most likely power responsible for the attack, though Pyonyang denies any involvement. Now, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has said his country will boost its defense, sever all trade with North Korea and deny North Korean merchant ships access to their sea lanes. The U.S. has backed the South Korean stance. 

But this is not the first time North Korea has taken a hostile maritime policy, nor is this the most explicit act of aggression by Pyongyang.

The New York Times national security correspondent Mark Mazzetti explains that, despite thorny issues of legality, the U.S. is still dependent on a network of spies and independent contractors to accomplish its foreign policy goals in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Two years after a contested and hot-spirited primary campaign, Barack Obama's strongest rival has morphed into a great ally as the president and the secretary of state find their footing on the international stage. It took some time for Hillary Clinton to find her voice in the Obama administration, but is now a strong member of the team.

Yesterday, we talked about Google's emerging foreign policy, as it deals with take-down requests from governments around the world. Today, we speak to the executive who is in effect the company's "Secretary of State."

Last month Google said enough is enough and moved its search operations out of mainland China, causing noticeable diplomatic waves. Yesterday, the company took another step, revealing some of the extent of its foreign policy. It published this explanation of censorship requests from all the governments with whom they deal.

• BAGHDAD TAKEOUT: A suicide attack rocked Baghdad this morning, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens. Joining us from Baghdad is The New York Times' John Leland.
• SPORTS TAKEOUT: Earlier today, Rafael Nadal bowed out of the Australian Open after he suffered a knee injury during his quarterfinal game against Andy Murray. Jon Wertheim, senior writer at Sports Illustrated joins us from Melbourne, Australia to explain what happened.

You might call the nation of Pakistan the buried headline in President Obama’s big Afghanistan speech Tuesday. Like Afghanistan, Pakistan faces its own instability and its own Taliban problem. Its president, Asif Ali Zardari, has looked in recent days significantly weakened. Last Friday Zardari handed over control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal to the prime minister, and he’s facing pressure from the Obama government to crack down on the same insurgent groups whom Pakistan's army and intelligence services have themselves cultivated as a kind of secret weapon.

So what does a U.S. strategy in Pakistan look like, and is Pakistan a strong enough partner for that strategy to succeed? We're joined by Ahmed Rashid, longtime Pakistani journalist and author of “Descent Into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.” We're also talking with Adil Najam: He's professor of International Relations at Boston University, and he worries that even if President Obama is succesful in Afghanistan, we may lose Pakistan as the Taliban is forced over the Afghan border.

Hamid Karzai has been sworn in today as the president of Afghanistan for a second five-year term.  After an optimistic first presidential election in 2004, this second election was, in the words of President Obama, "messy." It was fraught with allegations of corruption, and looked like it might require a run-off.  However, today's inauguration officially secures Hamid Karzai as president for the next five years. The inauguration itself is to be held as a private event on the heavily-secured presidential palace grounds. Anand Gopal of the Wall Street Journal, on the ground in Kabul, gives us the scene during the inauguration.

President Karzai still faces great international pressure to address corruption in the government in order to continue receiving support from the United States.  Earlier this week the Afghan government announced plans to create a major anti-corruption unit to investigate senior officials.  This Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on ABC's The Week "I have made it clear that we're not going to be providing any civilian aid to Afghanistan unless we have a certification that if it goes into the Afghan government in any form, that we're going to have ministries that we can hold accountable."

We discuss this statement and the possible impact on the future of Afghanistan with Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told his political allies that he will not seek re-election in January. Israel's president and defense minister, along with the president of Egypt and the King of Jordan, have all called Abbas asking him to reconsider. Abbas is expected to give a speech later today, where he will express his frustration with the peace process.

Officials say Abbas told President Obama in October that he would not run for re-election unless Israel agreed to freeze the building of settlements in the West Bank, thereby allowing him to resume peace talks without losing all credibility. Aaron David Miller, public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., joins us with his thoughts on the move. Miller has served as an adviser on Middle East politics to both Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State.

Earlier this week we made a comparison between the Vietnam War and the current U.S. war in Afghanistan. One of our listeners responded with a rebuttal. Jonaid Sharif said we were

"comparing the Taliban — vicious and medieval — to the Viet Cong, who were fighting for progress and national liberation ... The Viet Cong were supported by half of the world ... I have yet to come across anyone who openly endorses the Taliban."

Today we look at Afghanistan from an Afghan perspective. Jonaid Sharif is a professor at Paine College in Augusta, Ga., where he teaches Pashto language. He is himself Afghan-American. We're also joined by Christine Fair, a professor at the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University; and Lyse Doucet, BBC Correspondent in Kabul.