In The News

General's Review Creates Rupture

Karen DeYoung September 22, 2009
US Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s report on Afghanistan has divided Republicans and Democrats as President Obama requests more time to ensure the US has the right strategy in the embattled nation. McChrystal concluded that the US’ effort in Afghanistan would likely fail without more troops. Such an assessment jibes with the growing sophistication of Taliban attacks and US troop casualties in the...

Obama’s Missile Defense Change Shows Different Targets

Tomas Valasek September 21, 2009
Obama’s decision not to build a missile defense base in the Czech Republic and Poland presents new challenges and risks to the European theater. First, according to Director at the Center for European Reform Tomas Valasek, it risks rewarding Russia for its truculence in the hopes of getting the country to support the US in tempering Iran. Second, while the plan to use a sea-based shield may...

What Motivates the Suicide Bombers?

Riaz Hassan September 3, 2009
The heart-wrenching and horrible daily accounts of suicide bombings rarely reveal the underlying cause of the bombers’ motivations. But a comprehensive database at Australia’s Flinders University that has compiled information on these types of attacks from as early as 1981 can shed light on such motivations. And the conclusions are startling, Professor Riaz Hassan, author of a forthcoming book on...

Afghanistan’s Election Matters as Much for the Country as for the World

Bruce Riedel August 27, 2009
Afghanistan’s presidential election could provide a critical update on the progress of the war in that country, writes Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. That is, it should reveal the strength of the Taliban insurgency relative to the success of the US and NATO. The US and NATO appear to have an upper hand given that the Taliban were unsuccessful in disrupting the election...

Lessons of Failed States: Rebuilding Sierra Leone and Liberia

Humphrey Hawksley August 20, 2009
As elections are held in Afghanistan, the memory of 9/11 seems to have all but faded. But, as journalist Humphrey Hawksley writes, the lesson of 9/11, that failed states are a breeding ground for malignant forces with a global reach, must not be forgotten. World leaders need to balance placating an electorate uneasy about continuing involvement with finding a long term solution to securing a...

Nigeria’s ‘Taliban’ Enigma

Joe Boyle July 29, 2009
A recent spike in violence in northern Nigeria has drawn attention to a mysterious group of radicals known variously as “Taliban,” “Maiduguri,” and “Boko Haram.” All the terms have been attributed to the group by local people; it has no name for itself and has no link to the Taliban in Afghanistan. The group aims to overthrow the Nigerian state, impose strict Islamic law and abolish what it calls...

Terrorists Recruit For Cyberwar, Official Says

June 26, 2009
Islamic extremist groups are expanding their use of the internet as a tool to further their war against the West. Some jihadi websites offer instructions on hacking. While US defense officals claim jihadists are attempting to recruit computer experts to raise funds through online fraud schemes and perpetrate cyberattacks. US and Italian authorities recently disrupted an Italy-based international...