In The News

Wary on Obama

Stanley A. Weiss April 21, 2009
Obama’s charisma might be a draw for many Indians, but the substance of his policy toward India leaves others apprehensive. Among areas of concern are the inclusion of disputed Kashmir in the US’s regional strategy toward Pakistan; the potential that US military hardware given to Pakistan could be used against India; Obama’s openness to reconciliation with “good” Taliban, a phrase many Indians...

There is Nothing Called the 'Moderate Taliban'

MJ Akbar April 20, 2009
The Obama administration’s new approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan involving talking with “moderate” Taliban has raised a lot of criticism. Indian journalist and author M.J.Akbar argues that to consider any Taliban who is not fighting the US moderate is a mistake. The phrase “moderate Taliban” glosses over the intent of the Taliban’s actions: the oppression of women and the repeal of modernity...

Obama’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Quandary – Part II

Haider Ali Hussein Mullick April 15, 2009
President Obama faces two equally unpleasant alternatives if he wants to defeat Al Qaeda, according to Haider Mullick, Senior Fellow at the US Joint Special Operations University in this second part of a two part series on Obama’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Quandary. These alternatives are: help bolster Pakistan’s security interests in Afghanistan by reducing India’s role there, or be sucked deeper and...

Obama’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Quandary – Part I

Ashley J. Tellis April 13, 2009
During the long election campaign, then candidate Barack Obama criticized President George W. Bush for dropping the ball in Afghanistan to devote military resources to Iraq. Now President Obama is trying to find the right course in Afghanistan. In the first of this two part YaleGlobal series, Carnegie Endowment scholar Ashley J. Tellis writes that President Obama’s decision to continue the fight...

India in a Changing World

Sanjaya Baru March 30, 2009
Foreign policy has typically been a side issue in Indian politics owing to more exigent domestic issues. However, as former aide to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sanjaya Baru notes, by attending to foreign policy, New Delhi can likely achieve its internal goal of modernization and prosperity. But there are two important considerations: U.S-China relations and regional balance. Should the current...

Pakistan: The Militant Jihadi Challenge

March 30, 2009
As the US and NATO prepare to step up military action to blunt extremism along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the International Crisis Group presents analysis on the extent of the challenge: “that the Pakistani Taliban is an outgrowth of radical Sunni networks in the country’s political heartland is too often neglected.” Extremist networks provide weapons, recruits and financing for attacks on...

Hillary Clinton Admits US Role in Mexico Drug Wars

Jo Tuckman March 27, 2009
Mexico is a source as well as major transshipment point for most of the illegal drugs moving into the US – a trade route marked with thousands of cases of torture, murder and ruined lives. Yet American teenagers and college students do not connect their casual use of marijuana and cocaine at lively, secure campus parties with the brutal violence on display throughout Mexico. During a visit to...