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Abstract: This is a transcript of an event held on 5 October at Chatham House. The panellists, drawn from the Middle East and North Africa Programme's regional experts, examined the latest round of negotiations aimed at resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.
As the latest round of negotiations aimed at resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict was embarked on in September 2010, the regional ramifications of the much-interrupted peace process have never appeared more important. State actors close to the conflict such as Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and non-state actors such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, all have a stake in the outcome of the peace talks. Together with the wider Arab League membership and Iran, not all of them wish the process to succeed, or succeed on the terms envisaged by the US and its allies in the European Union.
This panel drawn from the Middle East and North Africa Programme's regional experts will examine what is at stake for the regional neighbours of Israel and the Palestinians. What influence have they had over the initial progress of the negotiations? Are their actions critical in helping or hindering the outcome of the bilateral talks? What alternatives or reactions might they envisage should this latest attempt at peace fail?
Abstract: For decades, the trade in conflict minerals has fueled human rights abuses and promoted insecurity in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in July 2010, includes a provision that addresses the need for action to be taken to stop the national army and rebel groups in the DRC from profiting from the minerals trade. Section 1502, the Conflict Minerals provision, is a disclosure requirement that calls on companies to determine if their products contain conflict minerals and to report this to the SEC.
This legislation has the potential to make a significant impact on the ground in the DRC; however, there has been considerable misinformation and fear-mongering spread about its requirements and likely impact. This document seeks to clarify some of the most common misconceptions.
Abstract: This U.S. strategy document regarding combatting transnational organized crime was released on July 25, 2011. President Obama's opening letter states,
Despite a long and successful history of dismantling criminal organizations and developing common international standards for cooperation against transnational organized crime, not all of our capabilities have kept pace with the expansion of 21st century transnational criminal threats. Therefore, this strategy is organized around a single, unifying principle: to build, balance, and integrate the tools of American power to combat transnational organized crime and related threats to our national security – and to urge our partners to do the same. To this end, this strategy sets out 56 priority actions, starting with ones the United States can take within its own borders to lessen the impact of transnational crime domestically and on our foreign partners. Other actions seek to enhance our intelligence, protect the financial system and strategic markets, strengthen interdiction, investigations, and prosecutions, disrupt the drug trade and its facilitation of other transnational threats, and build international cooperation.
Abstract: Zimbabwe presents a set of critical, immediate challenges for U.S. policy. Different scenarios, including an unsanctioned snap election, a military coup, and President Robert Mugabe’s early death, could precipitate a sharp, even violent, crisis later this year. The United States can best respond by reinvigorating its active engagement with southern Africa and with the volatile and rapidly changing situation in Zimbabwe. This report details possible scenarios and offers options for strengthening Washington’s immediate and medium-term leverage in partnership with South Africa and the Southern African Development Community. Beyond Mugabe: Preparing for Zimbabwe’s Transition draws on a series of discussions by a CSIS Working Group on Zimbabwe as well as the author’s travel to Zimbabwe and intensive additional consultation with civil and political society within Zimbabwe.
Abstract: After a decade of major security, development and humanitarian assistance, the international community has failed to achieve a politically stable and economically viable Afghanistan. Despite billions of dollars in aid, state institutions remain fragile and unable to provide good governance, deliver basic services to the majority of the population or guarantee human security. As the insurgency spreads to areas regarded as relatively safe till now, and policymakers in Washington and other Western capitals seek a way out of an unpopular war, the international community still lacks a coherent policy to strengthen the state ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign forces by December 2014. The impact of international assistance will remain limited unless donors, particularly the largest, the U.S., stop subordinating programming to counter-insurgency objectives, devise better mechanisms to monitor implementation, adequately address corruption and wastage of aid funds, and ensure that recipient communities identify needs and shape assistance policies.
As early as 2002, the U.S. established Provincial Reconstruction Teams that gave the military a lead role in reconstruction assistance in insecure areas and somewhat expanded civilian presence but without setting any standards for where and when they should shift from military to civilian lead and when they should phase out entirely. The 2009 U.S. troop surge, aimed at urgently countering an expanding insurgency, was accompanied by a similar increase in U.S. civilian personnel – attempting to deliver quick results in the same areas as the military surge, but without rigorous monitoring and accountability. In their haste to demonstrate progress, donors have pegged much aid to short-term military objectives and timeframes. As the drawdown begins, donor funding and civilian personnel presence, mirroring the military’s withdrawal schedule, may rapidly decline, undermining oversight and the sustainability of whatever reconstruction and development achievements there have been.
Abstract: The war in Iraq remains a critical aspect of US national security, and involves more vital US strategic interests than the conflict in Afghanistan. Estimates by the Energy Information Agency of the Department of Energy indicate that the US and global economy will not reduces their strategic dependence on the Gulf petroleum exports through 2035, and Iraq’s future alignments with the US will be critical to determining our ability to contain Iran and ensure the security of our Arab allies and Israel.
It is also clear that Iraq still has an uncertain capability to deal with its extremist and terrorist threats, deter any foreign threats and pressure, and limit the risk of new outbreaks of ethnic and sectarian violence without US aid. The fact that Iraq’s leadership has agreed to ask some US forces to stay is only one indication of the issues involved, and the problems that have been highlighted by other research centers like RAND and the ICG. Iraq still has broad needs for US aid and assistance, and it will be years before rises in its petroleum revenues will allow it to fully fund its internal security and development, and create military forces strong enough to ensure its security against neighbors like Iran.
The Burke Chair has developed a new series of summary briefings on on Iraq that highlight recent developments in the war, as well as trends in Iraq’s security, its politics and governance, its economy, and its security forces.
The three briefings in this series also provide an overview of developments in the Iraqi energy sector and the current capabilities and size of Iraqi security forces (ISF), and their dependence on aid. They summarize the cost of the war to date to the US, the patterns in the withdrawal of US forces, and current plans for the US military withdrawal from Iraq. They also provide a summary of plans for a US State Department-led effort to create a strategic partnership with Iraq under the Strategic Framework Agreement.
The briefs include the following documents:
Iraq in Transition: Security, Iraqi Forces, and US Security Aid Plans . This brief highlights the timelines and history that have shaped Iraq since the US invasion in 2003. It also highlights the fact that violence in Iraq remains a major problem, and that there are still serious limits to the capabilities of Iraq’s security forces and there is a need for continued US security assistance.
Iraq in Transition: Governance, Politics, Economics, and PetroleumIraq in Transition: Governance, Politics, Economics, and Petroleum. This brief warns that Iraq still lacks effective governance, its politics remain highly unstable and threaten the success of a truly democratic government, and that its economy will need years of development to rescue the bulk of its people from poverty and fund a stable path towards development.
Iraq in Transition: US Transition Plans and Aid. This brief summarizes current US transition plans, the history of international and US aid flows, and the problems and successes in the US aid effort. It warns of the future difficulties the US will face in making aid effective, particularly as it shifts to a much lower profile of aid in governance and economics with minimal funding.
Abstract: The war in Iraq remains a critical aspect of US national security, and involves more vital US strategic interests than the conflict in Afghanistan. Estimates by the Energy Information Agency of the Department of Energy indicate that the US and global economy will not reduces their strategic dependence on the Gulf petroleum exports through 2035, and Iraq’s future alignments with the US will be critical to determining our ability to contain Iran and ensure the security of our Arab allies and Israel.
It is also clear that Iraq still has an uncertain capability to deal with its extremist and terrorist threats, deter any foreign threats and pressure, and limit the risk of new outbreaks of ethnic and sectarian violence without US aid. The fact that Iraq’s leadership has agreed to ask some US forces to stay is only one indication of the issues involved, and the problems that have been highlighted by other research centers like RAND and the ICG. Iraq still has broad needs for US aid and assistance, and it will be years before rises in its petroleum revenues will allow it to fully fund its internal security and development, and create military forces strong enough to ensure its security against neighbors like Iran. The Burke Chair has developed a new series of summary briefings on on Iraq that highlight recent developments in the war, as well as trends in Iraq’s security, its politics and governance, its economy, and its security forces.
The three briefings in this series also provide an overview of developments in the Iraqi energy sector and the current capabilities and size of Iraqi security forces (ISF), and their dependence on aid. They summarize the cost of the war to date to the US, the patterns in the withdrawal of US forces, and current plans for the US military withdrawal from Iraq. They also provide a summary of plans for a US State Department-led effort to create a strategic partnership with Iraq under the Strategic Framework Agreement.
The briefs include the following documents:
Iraq in Transition: Security, Iraqi Forces, and US Security Aid Plans . This brief highlights the timelines and history that have shaped Iraq since the US invasion in 2003. It also highlights the fact that violence in Iraq remains a major problem, and that there are still serious limits to the capabilities of Iraq’s security forces and there is a need for continued US security assistance.
Iraq in Transition: Governance, Politics, Economics, and Petroleum. This brief warns that Iraq still lacks effective governance, its politics remain highly unstable and threaten the success of a truly democratic government, and that its economy will need years of development to rescue the bulk of its people from poverty and fund a stable path towards development.
Iraq in Transition: US Transition Plans and Aid. This brief summarizes current US transition plans, the history of international and US aid flows, and the problems and successes in the US aid effort. It warns of the future difficulties the US will face in making aid effective, particularly as it shifts to a much lower profile of aid in governance and economics with minimal funding.
Abstract: The war in Iraq remains a critical aspect of US national security, and involves more vital US strategic interests than the conflict in Afghanistan. Estimates by the Energy Information Agency of the Department of Energy indicate that the US and global economy will not reduces their strategic dependence on the Gulf petroleum exports through 2035, and Iraq’s future alignments with the US will be critical to determining our ability to contain Iran and ensure the security of our Arab allies and Israel.
It is also clear that Iraq still has an uncertain capability to deal with its extremist and terrorist threats, deter any foreign threats and pressure, and limit the risk of new outbreaks of ethnic and sectarian violence without US aid. The fact that Iraq’s leadership has agreed to ask some US forces to stay is only one indication of the issues involved, and the problems that have been highlighted by other research centers like RAND and the ICG. Iraq still has broad needs for US aid and assistance, and it will be years before rises in its petroleum revenues will allow it to fully fund its internal security and development, and create military forces strong enough to ensure its security against neighbors like Iran. The Burke Chair has developed a new series of summary briefings on on Iraq that highlight recent developments in the war, as well as trends in Iraq’s security, its politics and governance, its economy, and its security forces.
The three briefings in this series also provide an overview of developments in the Iraqi energy sector and the current capabilities and size of Iraqi security forces (ISF), and their dependence on aid. They summarize the cost of the war to date to the US, the patterns in the withdrawal of US forces, and current plans for the US military withdrawal from Iraq. They also provide a summary of plans for a US State Department-led effort to create a strategic partnership with Iraq under the Strategic Framework Agreement.
The briefs include the following documents:
Iraq in Transition: Security, Iraqi Forces, and US Security Aid Plans. This brief highlights the timelines and history that have shaped Iraq since the US invasion in 2003. It also highlights the fact that violence in Iraq remains a major problem, and that there are still serious limits to the capabilities of Iraq’s security forces and there is a need for continued US security assistance.
Iraq in Transition: Governance, Politics, Economics, and Petroleum. This brief warns that Iraq still lacks effective governance, its politics remain highly unstable and threaten the success of a truly democratic government, and that its economy will need years of development to rescue the bulk of its people from poverty and fund a stable path towards development.
Iraq in Transition: US Transition Plans and Aid. This brief summarizes current US transition plans, the history of international and US aid flows, and the problems and successes in the US aid effort. It warns of the future difficulties the US will face in making aid effective, particularly as it shifts to a much lower profile of aid in governance and economics with minimal funding.
Abstract: This White House report, "Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States", was released on August 3, 2011. The report is the "President’s plan for how the Federal Government will support and help empower American communities and their local partners to prevent violent extremism".
Abstract: The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) convened a meeting of a Task Force on Indicators of Radicalization. The meeting was held October 15-16, 2009, at the ACE Conference Center in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. The primary goal of the Task Force was to offer collective judgment about the value and feasibility of using archival data, often available at the community level (county, city, town, precinct, or tract), to conduct research on radicalization in the United States. The Task Force considered possible community-level indicators of radicalization and explored existing data sources (excluding data from attitudinal surveys) to assess whether those data might be applicable and relevant to the study of radicalization and violent extremism. The Task Force discussed and examined the research investments that could be made (by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or by other funders) to facilitate work in this area. The Task Force explored potential research projects involving both analysis of readily available data and longer-term initiatives involving new data collection efforts. This report provides an overview of the discussions at the meeting and the research agenda discussed as well as future recommendations.
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to obtain state-police agencies estimates about possible cooperation between far-right extremists and Islamic Jihadists to commit crimes, and the threat posed by specified extremist groups. Towards this goal, a survey was mailed to the 50 state police agencies in the United States. The survey also asked about the types of crimes far-right extremists commit. Forty-two states (84%) responded, with 37 states (74%) submitting completed surveys.
Abstract: A popular anecdote in the Middle East, coined by former U.S. Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger in the 1970s, is that ‘no war is possible without Egypt, and no
peace possible without Syria’ - Daoudy, 2008:215 -. This paper will focus mainly
on the prospect of peace between Israel and Syria.
Despite some brief interludes of optimism in the early 1990s, the history of
conflict and mistrust between Israel and Syria, the ongoing occupation of the Golan
Heights, and periodic hostilities mean that a durable peace between them remains
a distant prospect. Throughout the last two decades of official and unofficial peace
talks between Israel and Syria, the position and concerns of each party to reach
peace have become evident. The Syrians insist on a full Israeli withdrawal from the
Golan, captured in 1967, down to the 4 June 1967 line, which would allow Syrian
access to the Sea of Galilee/Lake Tiberias. Israeli leaders have stated their demand
of keeping the Syrians off the water of the Lake and their intention to withdraw along
the international border line of 1923, although it seems at least some of them do
realise that the Syrian pre-condition of full withdrawal has to be fulfilled. Indeed,
the stumbling block obstructing the implementation of an Israeli-Syrian peace deal
is the disputed area between the 1923 international borderline and the 1967 pre-war
- 4 June 1967 - line. Although small in size, this area carries a most significant and
strategic position involving water access, sovereignty and control. This has been
regarded as the sticking point through the two-decade period of negotiations
- Muslih, 1993:613; Renger, 1998:49 -
Recently, the American administration had taken up the idea of creating a
peace park in the Golan Heights as a way of resolving the Israeli-Syrian conflict
particularly in the area between the 1923 and 1967 lines in the north-eastern
sector of Lake Tiberias.
This paper will explore this idea, which in the past has been put forward
by government officials and political analysts alike as a possible means to
accommodate Syrian and Israeli concerns. In order to determine the viability of
this project I shall analyse the literature regarding the utilisation of natural resources
both for conflict propagation and as catalysts for lasting cooperation and conflict
resolution. Then I will present a brief history of the Syrian-Israeli peace process and
describe why previous peace talks have failed. Finally, I shall describe the status
quo in the Golan Heights today and the discourse of environmental peace-building
through the suggested proposal of a peace park along the shores of Lake Tiberias.
I will argue that while a peace park is not the panacea to the conflict
existing today between Israel and Syria, within a context of comprehensive peace
agreements such a project can ameliorate the concerns of both parties and provide
a platform for confidence building and a way to overcome the problem of sovereignty
in this particular area.
Abstract: The Iraq Index is a statistical compilation of economic, public opinion, and security data. This resource will provide updated information on various criteria, including crime, telephone and water service, troop fatalities, unemployment, Iraqi security forces, oil production, and coalition troop strength.
The index is designed to quantify the rebuilding efforts and offer an objective set of criteria for benchmarking performance. It is the first in-depth, non-partisan assessment of American efforts in Iraq, and is based primarily on U.S. government information. Although measurements of progress in any nation-building effort can never be reduced to purely quantitative data, a comprehensive compilation of such information can provide a clearer picture and contribute to a healthier and better informed debate.
Michael O'Hanlon spearheads the Iraq Index project at Brookings, with assistance from Senior Research Assistant Ian S. Livingston. O'Hanlon is a Foreign Policy Studies senior fellow and served on a U.S. government delegation to Iraq to review post-war progress.
Abstract: The Afghanistan Index is a statistical compilation of economic, public opinion and security data. This resource will provide updated and historical information on various data, including crime, infrastructure, casualties, unemployment, Afghan security forces and coalition troop strength.
The index is designed to assemble the best possible quantitative indicators of the international community’s counterinsurgency and nation-building efforts in Afghanistan, to track them over time, and to offer an objective set of criteria for benchmarking performance. It serves as an in-depth, non-partisan assessment of American and international efforts in Afghanistan, and is based primarily on U.S. government, Afghan government and NATO data. Although measurements of progress in any nation-building effort can never be reduced to purely quantitative data, a comprehensive compilation of such information can provide a clearer picture and contribute to a healthier and better informed debate.
Ian S. Livingston, Heather L. Messera and Michael O'Hanlon spearhead the Afghanistan Index project at Brookings. Livingston and Messera are senior research assistants in Foreign Policy at Brookings. Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy.
Abstract: This report explores how the Haqqani network has historically functioned as a nexus organization and as a strategic enabler of local, regional and global forms of Islamist militancy. Specific attention is placed on examining the Haqqani network’s support for al-Qa`ida and its global jihad, and more recently the Pakistani Taliban. The report is based on a review of three jihadist magazines released in Pashto, Urdu and Arabic by the Haqqani network from 1989-1993; a series of digital videos produced by the group since 2001; and various memoirs written by al-Qa’ida linked fighters present in Afghanistan during the period under study (1973-2010). The authors also reviewed several thousand pages of letters written to and from Haqqani commanders during the 1980s and 1990s, which were captured in Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion and have since been stored in the Department of Defense’s Harmony database. The report’s key findings provide insight into the Haqqani network’s identity and role; the nature of its relationships and the history and development of al-Qa’ida.
Abstract: This report presents substantial information warranting criminal investigations of Bush and senior administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet, for ordering practices such as “waterboarding,” the use of secret CIA prisons, and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured.
Abstract: Th is report outlines a bold new framework and agenda for U.S. national
security policy. Based upon the principles of human security, it advocates
an inclusive vision to replace the narrow focus dominated by traditional
security themes. Th e programs grouped under “foreign assistance”
and diplomacy must not only be given higher priority and made more
effi cient. Th ey must also be reframed as United States contributions to
solving common global problems instead of as optional “charity” or “soft ”
alternatives to saber-rattling. The report also stresses that in addition to
change in administration policies, Congress must reclaim its oversight
responsibilities, and American civil society must insist on being included
in building new reciprocal and mutually benefi cial ties with other
countries.
Abstract: This report provides the first global study of how the U.S.
government’s (USG) counter-terrorism efforts profoundly implicate and impact women and sexual
minorities. Over the last decade of the United States’ “War on Terror,” the oft-unspoken assumption
that men suffer the most—both numerically and in terms of the nature of rights violations endured—
has obscured the way women and sexual minorities experience counter-terrorism, rendering their rights
violations invisible to policymakers and the human rights community alike. This failure to consider either
the differential impacts of counter-terrorism on women, men, and sexual minorities or the ways in which
such measures use and affect gender stereotypes and relations cannot continue. As the USG leads a
world-wide trend toward a more holistic approach to countering terrorism that mobilizes the 3Ds—defense,
diplomacy, and development—and increasingly emphasizes the role of women in national security, the
extent to which counter-terrorism efforts include and impact women and sexual minorities is set to rise. As
the ten-year anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001 approaches, now is the time for the USG and
governments the world-over to take stock of, redress, and deter the gender-based violations that occur in
a world characterized by the proliferation of terrorism and counter-terrorism and the squeezing of women
and sexual minorities between the two.
Abstract: On June 14, 2011, more than 200 policymakers and experts participated in an invitation-only, full-day working meeting at CSIS to discuss a constructive, realistic way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The main topics were Afghan governance, the Afghan security sector, and Pakistani cooperation. Informed in part by expert presentations on these topics, participants formed 17 simultaneous working groups asking: What accomplishments are essential? What are not essential? And what lasting gains can realistically be achieved?
What most participants felt was important is for the Obama administration to publicly identify what it believes to be the minimal essential requirements for Afghan stability and U.S. security and the minimal essential conditions on the ground that would enable those requirements to be met. By offering guidance on what accomplishments are essential, the administration would encourage activities on the ground to be prioritized more constructively. As a modest contribution to that guidance, this report provides the key observations and suggestions that emerged from the conference discussions, focusing mainly on those issues on which there was broad (though never unanimous) agreement among the convened experts and policymakers.
Abstract: This monograph provides a timely analysis and thoughtful insights into the challenges faced by the United States in developing a strategy for North Korea. The author examines the complex history of U.S. policy toward North Korea over the last decade that has left the United States in a position of having virtually no influence over the country. He addresses the complicated regional concerns and interests of North Korea’s neighbors and how these concerns impact on each of their approaches to North Korea. Most importantly, he looks at how the North Korean culture and history have influenced the attitudes of North Korean society and their relationship with other countries. He concludes by pointing out that despite the numerous challenges, the United States must develop a strategy focused on engaging Pyongyang if we expect to have any influence over the future direction of events in North Korea.
Abstract: Mass atrocities are organized crimes. Those who commit
genocide and crimes against humanity depend on third
parties for the goods and services—money, matériel,
political support, and a host of other resources—that
sustain large-scale violence against civilians. Third parties
have supplied military aircraft used by the Sudan Armed
Forces against civilians, refined gold and other minerals
coming out of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo,
and ensured a steady flow of arms into Rwanda.
Governments seeking to prevent atrocities cannot afford a
narrow and uncoordinated focus on the perpetrators of
such violence. Rather, an effective strategy must include
identifying and pressuring third-party enablers—
individuals, commercial entities, and countries—in order to
interrupt the supply chains that fuel mass violence against
civilians.
The first-ever Director of War Crimes, Atrocities, and
Civilian Protection on the National Security Staff recently
convened a meeting that appears to initiate an
interagency structure to coordinate atrocities-prevention
initiatives across the government. The Administration has
an opportunity in the newly initiated structure to activate all
of the U.S. government’s resources to institute an
atrocities-prevention policy that goes beyond responding
to individual crises. This structure should incorporate a
systematic approach to disrupting enablers and should
ensure that all possible tools are developed and used to
counter these complex crimes. The intelligence
community and the Department of the Treasury, along
with the Departments of State and Defense, are key to
successfully tackling third-party enablers of atrocities.
Abstract: This report, Ethiopia: Assessing Risks to Stability, is part of a series examining the risks of instability in 10 African countries over the next decade. The 10 papers are designed to be complementary but can also be read individually as self-standing country studies. An overview paper draws on common themes and explains the methodology underpinning the research. The project was commissioned by the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The papers in this study are not meant to offer hard and fast predictions about the future. While they sketch out some potential scenarios for the next 10 years, these efforts should be treated as thought experiments that look at how different dynamics might converge to create the conditions for instability. The intention is not to single out countries believed to be at risk of impending disaster and make judgments about how they will collapse. Few, if any, of the countries in this series are at imminent risk of breakdown. All of them have coping mechanisms that militate against conflict, and discussions of potential “worst-case scenarios” have to be viewed with this qualification in mind.
Abstract: As the President affirmed in his 2010 National Security Strategy, he bears no greater responsibility than
ensuring the safety and security of the American people. This National Strategy for Counterterrorism
sets out our approach to one of the President’s top national security priorities: disrupting, dismantling,
and eventually defeating al-Qa‘ida and its affiliates and adherents to ensure the security of our citizens
and interests.
In response to the attacks of September 2001, the United States embarked on a national effort against
al-Qa‘ida, the transnational terrorist organization responsible for planning and conducting the attacks.
As we approach the 10th anniversary of that day, we can look forward with confidence in our accomplishments
and pride in the resiliency of our nation. Yet the paramount terrorist threat we have faced—al-Qa‘ida and its affiliates and adherents—has also
continued to evolve, often in response to the successes of the United States and its partners around the
world.
This National Strategy for Counterterrorism maintains our focus on pressuring al-Qa‘ida’s core
while emphasizing the need to build foreign partnerships and capacity and to strengthen our resilience.
At the same time, our strategy augments our focus on confronting the al-Qa‘ida-linked threats that
continue to emerge from beyond its core safehaven in South Asia.
Abstract: The National Strategy for Counterterrorism, formalizes the approach that President Obama and his Administration have been pursuing and adapting for the past two and half years to prevent terrorist attacks and to deliver devastating blows against al-Qa’ida, including the successful mission to kill Usama bin Laden.
Rather than defining our entire national security policy, this counterterrorism strategy is one part of President Obama’s larger National Security Strategy, which seeks to advance our enduring national security interests, including our security, prosperity, respect for universal values and global cooperation to meet global challenges.
This Strategy builds upon the progress we have made in the decade since 9/11, in partnership with Congress, to build our counterterrorism and homeland security capacity as a nation. It neither represents a wholesale overhaul—nor a wholesale retention—of previous policies and strategies.
Abstract: The war if Iraq has received only limited attention in the US media and various research centers over the last year. It remains, however, a critical aspect of US national security, and involves more vital US strategic interest than the conflict in Afghanistan.
This report provides an overview of the political, security, and economic developments in Iraq, as well as developments in the Iraqi energy sector and shifts in international and US aid to Iraq. It summarizes the current capabilities and size of Iraqi security forces (ISF), and their dependence on aid.
It also summarizes the cost of the war to date to the US, the patterns in the withdrawal of US forces, and current plans for the US military withdrawal from Iraq. A separate sections summarizes plans for US State Department-led effort to create a strategic partnership with Iraq under the Strategic Framework Agreement.
