Given that the Western world, and above all
Consider the testimony of Dr.
So far as concerns America's Asian wars today and tomorrow, this testimony provided vitally important information, yet was hardly anywhere reported or noted, even at exactly the moment when President
If the president and
He left the CIA in 1991 to return to medicine, and has since also occupied academic positions at the Universities of
His
His testimony is much too long, systematically organized and synthesized, and meticulously documented, to be summarized here. It can and should be consulted at the
A few of its most important points follow.
There have been 60 global neo-jihadi (the author's preferred term) projects or "plots" in the West in the last two decades, by 46 terrorist networks or groups connected directly or indirectly with al-Qaida. The first was the original attack on the
Of the 60 "neo-jihadi" plots in the West, nine were actually Algerian terrorist attacks on
The al-Qaida core organization became active in the West in 1993 (the first Trade Center attack), peaked in 2001 with the 9/11 bombings, and since has been in decline. Only two other al-Qaida-linked attacks were successful (the
There has since been no "resurgent al-Qaida" in the West. The overall pattern of international terrorism since 2001 is increasingly that of a "leaderless jihad," resembling the spontaneous series of terrorist actions and murders of heads of state in
Victory in Afghanistan Requires Fully Supported Counterinsurgency
James Danly
In order to declare victory, we need to aid the Afghans in establishing a legitimate government whose population does not effectively support terrorist networks. The only viable course is to commit the resources necessary to conduct a full-spectrum counterinsurgency of the kind employed to such great effect during the surge in Iraq
Counterinsurgency Cookie Cutter Doesn't Fit Afghanistan
Gian P. Gentile
'Counterinsurgency' has become the new American way of war. A once obscure theory of internal conflict, it has become ubiquitous in military circles and dominates thinking on both current and future wars. More important, its precepts are being followed without serious inquiry or examination, and the U.S. military has become so enamored with the theory that it seemingly will not consider any serious alternative methods to achieve the president's objectives in Afghanistan.
Despite Obama's Concessions, Russia Remains Unhelpful on Iran
Joshua Kucera
The Obama administration's announcement last month that it was scrapping plans to build missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic removed a prime irritant in the U.S.-Russian relationship; Russians felt the missile defense network was targeted as much at them as against the purported threat, Iran. And the move appeared at first to pay dividends. However ...
Can United States Truly Press 'Reset' Button With Russia
Ian Bremmer and Alexander Kliment
Today, Moscow and Washington elites glower at each other over a host of global disputes, and Russia, far from blossoming into the pro-Western, market-oriented democracy that the 1990s shock therapists dreamed of, has developed into a quasi-authoritarian petro-state at home, guided by zero-sum revisionist ambitions abroad.
Arrogant U.S. Misses the Message From Pakistan's People
William Pfaff
There has always been in American foreign policy circles a virus called arrogance, caused by the hereditary assumption that Americans know better than others. Surprisingly, this does not always prove the case, but the condition seems highly resistant to treatment, even by experience. There seems a high probability that the disease has struck Obama administration policy circles dealing with Pakistan
For Europe, U.S. Is Country That Cries Wolf
William Pfaff
Officials such as Philip Gordon regularly travel to Europe to ask for support for American initiatives. The Europeans reply that they have not been consulted in making these policies. The Americans say we will be happy to discuss them, but we are putting up most of the men and money, so it's too late to change anything. Maybe next time.
Afghan Mythologies
Victor Davis Hanson
As President Obama decides whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, we should remember that most of the conventional pessimism about Afghanistan is only half-truth. Remember the mantra that the region is the 'graveyard of empires,' where Alexander the Great, the British in the 19th century, and the Soviets only three decades ago inevitably met their doom?
United States: Single-eyed Vision
Robert C. Koehler
The promise the United States once represented to the world has spent itself, and what we have to offer in terms of opportunity, or at least hope, is overshadowed by the spreading shadow of our hubris. And it's all coming home to roost.
Latin America Low on Obama's Priority List
Latin American Current Events, News & Affairs - Andres Oppenheimer
One year after the election of President Barack Obama, it's time to ask whether his ambitious campaign promises about Latin America are being fulfilled, or whether, like others before him, he has placed the region at the bottom of his foreign policy priorities. Let's look at Obama's key campaign promises for Latin America
In the Quicksands of Somalia
Bronwyn Bruton
The U.S. government needs to change its Somalia policy -- and fast. For the better part of two decades, international attempts to create a government have failed. And since 9/11, U.S. attempts to prevent Somalia from becoming a safe haven for al Qaeda have visibly backfired, alienating the Somali population, and propelling an indigenous Salafi jihadist group, called al Shabab, to power
Changing North Korea
Andrei Lankov
When it comes to dealing with North Korea the United States and its allies have no efficient methods of coercion at their disposal; the regime is remarkably immune to outside pressure. Its leaders cannot afford change, so they make sure their state continues to be an international threat, using nuclear blackmail as a survival tactic while their unlucky subjects endure more poverty and terror. Since outside pressure is ineffective
(c) 2009 William Pfaff