Defense Policy
Negotiations and Reconciliation with the Taliban: Key Policy Issues and Dilemmas
At the International Conference on Afghanistan on January 28, leaders from Afghanistan, the United Kingdom and Japan presented their options for reconciliation with the Taliban. Vanda Felbab-Brown evaluates these developments, arguing that, when it comes to negotiating with the Taliban, the content, costs and benefits of each approach must be measured carefully to reach a successful outcome.
Categories: Defense Policy
Shooting Up: Counterinsurgency and the War on Drugs
Event Information:
- January 25, 2010, 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM
For many policymakers, counterinsurgency and counternarcotics policy are two sides of the same coin. However, eradication-focused counternarcotics campaigns typically fail to bankrupt belligerent groups and may even strengthen insurgents. On January 25, the 21st Century Defense Initiative hosted Vanda Felbab-Brown and Dr. Wendy Chamberlin for a discussion of Felbab-Brown’s new book Shooting Up: Counterinsurgency and the War on Drugs.
Categories: Defense Policy
The Status Report: Facing Challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan
While the situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan are still dire, Bruce Riedel says that President Obama made the right decision to focus on the region as the epicenter of the struggle against al Qaeda. His colleague Vanda Felbab-Brown agrees, giving the president a B overall in The Status Report, but says that the president made the decision too late in 2009.
Categories: Defense Policy
Obama’s Challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan
In this installment of the Status Report, a series of policy assessments of the Obama administration’s first year, Vanda Felbab-Brown gives the Obama administration a B for its leadership in confronting the challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She applauds the president for his commitment of more troops to the Afghan war, while lamenting lost opportunities.
Categories: Defense Policy
Richard Holbrooke: The Obama Administration’s Challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Event Information:
- January 07, 2010, 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM
Afghanistan and Pakistan remain at the forefront of President Obama’s foreign policy agenda, as questions persist about the success of U.S. policies in the region. Brookings hosted Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, for a conversation on the Obama administration’s way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Categories: Defense Policy
Narco-Jihad: Drug Trafficking and Security in Afghanistan and Pakistan
In an essay on the nexus between the narcotics economy and violent conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Vanda Felbab-Brown explores the factors supporting opium production in those countries. Felbab-Brown also offers options for successful counter-narcotics policies and for building an alternative legal economy throughout the struggling region.
Categories: Defense Policy
Four Global Crisis Spots
Writing about the year ahead in foreign policy, Michael O’Hanlon identifies four important policy challenges facing the Obama Administration that will reach crucial milestones in 2010 – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and nuclear nonproliferation.
Categories: Defense Policy
States of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan
Ian Livingston, Heather Messera and Michael O'Hanlon examine leading metrics from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to assess how well the counterinsurgency and stabilization operations are faring in these three major arenas of U.S. military involvement.
Categories: Defense Policy
Obama's Solid First Year on Foreign Policy
Despite criticism from political opponents - including former Vice President Dick Cheney - and a recent rise in terrorist activity directed at American citizens, Michael O'Hanlon writes that President Obama has had a solid first year with regard to foreign policy matters, highlighted by sound policy decisions in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
Categories: Defense Policy
A Year of War - And Progress
In the past year, the United States has fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and spearheaded counterterrorism and counterinsurgency efforts in both countries and in Pakistan. Michael O'Hanlon writes that progress has been made in all three arenas, expressing guarded optimism for all three missions in the coming year.
Categories: Defense Policy
New Year's Resolutions for the Pentagon
As December 31 approaches, Peter Singer proposes several New Year’s resolutions for the Pentagon and examines the likelihood that the Obama administration and U.S. military leaders will follow through on them.
Categories: Defense Policy
More Effective Protection for Internally Displaced Persons in Southern Afghanistan
Event Information:
- December 17, 2009, 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM
The modern history of Afghanistan has been marked by continuous conflict. Displacement in Afghanistan remains an everyday part of life for the majority of Afghan citizens. On December 17, the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement released the findings of a new study on displacement in southern Afghanistan conducted with the Liaison Office, an Afghan non-governmental organization that aims to improve local governance, stability and security in the southeast and south of Afghanistan.
Categories: Defense Policy
Al Qaeda's American Mole
According to Bruce Riedel, the recent arrest and trial of David Headley - a Pakistani American who was allegedly involved in a terrorist attack in Mumbai, India last year - could have grave implications in the global fight against terrorism.
Categories: Defense Policy
In Afghanistan, The Odds Are With Us
Despite the enormous challenges facing the United States and NATO in the war in Afghanistan, Michael O'Hanlon believes that there are a number of factors that could lead to a favorable outcome, from improvements in Afghan security forces, to a general desire on the part of the Afghan people to create a better life for themselves.
Categories: Defense Policy
U.S.-Pakistan Relations: Looking Ahead in South Asia
In a December 11 address to a visiting team from the U.S. Marine Corps War College, Stephen Cohen examined the future of South Asia in the larger context of violent Islamic extremism. Cohen outlined a range of policies that America might consider in dealing with Pakistan – a central player in the Afghan war – and in Pakistan's longstanding conflict with neighboring India.
Categories: Defense Policy
Winning the War in Afghanistan on the Home Front
President Obama's recent announcement of an initial troop surge and eventual exit strategy in Afghanistan drew sharp domestic criticism that the president was putting political interests above national security concerns. Michael Fullilove and Anthony Bubalo defend the president's announcement, saying that he must generate popular support on the home front while providing generals with the resources that they need to win the war.
Categories: Defense Policy
What’s Next in Turkish-American Relations?
As Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visited the White House on December 7, Ömer Taşpinar reflects on the current challenges facing Turkish-American relations; including Turkey’s close relationship with Iran, its reluctance to send additional troops to Afghanistan and the growing anti-Americanism among the Turkish people.
Categories: Defense Policy
What President Obama Should Say in His Nobel Peace Prize Speech
On Thursday, President Obama will accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, nine days after announcing his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan. While the Nobel Committee likely didn’t expect such an announcement so close to the awards ceremony, Brookings President Strobe Talbott says that President Obama should use his acceptance speech to raise confidence that his policy will succeed.
Categories: Defense Policy
A Bold Gamble for Afghanistan
Bruce Riedel examines the President Obama’s plan for a troop surge in Afghanistan, saying that it is now Obama's war and the only way we have to stabilize the Afghan government and the region.
Categories: Defense Policy
President Obama's Afghan Gamble
With the Administration’s decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, some say the Afghan war has now become President Obama's war. Bruce Riedel contends that the stakes are high and that the president will have to invest not only more U.S. and NATO troops, but also his political capital to convince a war-weary country to persevere in the face of great danger and uncertain outcomes.
Categories: Defense Policy
