Gilles Dorronsoro is no longer with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Gilles Dorronsoro, formerly a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment, is an expert on Afghanistan, Turkey, and South Asia. His research focuses on security and political development in Afghanistan, particularly the role of the International Security Assistance Force, the necessary steps for a viable government in Kabul, and the conditions necessary for withdrawal scenarios.
Previously, Dorronsoro was a professor of political science at the Sorbonne in Paris and the Institute of Political Studies in Rennes. He also served as the scientific coordinator at the French Institute of Anatolian Studies in Istanbul, Turkey.
He is the co-founder and editor of the South Asian Multidisciplinary Academic Journal and the European Journal of Turkish Studies. He is the author of Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to the Present (Columbia University Press, 2005), and La révolution afghane, des communistes aux Taleban (Karthala Publishers 2000), and he is editor of La Turquie conteste. Régime sécuritaire et mobilisations sociales (Editions du CNRS, 2005).
Dorronsoro is an associate member of the French Institute of Anatolian Studies.
How has U.S. policy failed to anticipate current developments of jihadist movements from Afghanistan to Syria?
The opposition in Syria needs a government more than it needs guns.
The solution to the Syrian crisis lies in building a state within rebel-held territory that can replace the regime in Damascus.
Without a clear plan for the 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan, Washington may find the country worse off, in some respects, than it was in 2001.
A combination of two critical problems threatens to undermine the mission of the United States–led coalition in Afghanistan: the failure of the counterinsurgency strategy and a disconnect between political objectives and military operations.
Considering that the international coalition will have fewer resources in Afghanistan next year, it is time to enter into a meaningful negotiation process with the Taliban.
With Afghans growing increasingly frustrated by the Western forces in their country, President Obama should use the political cover provided by the death of Osama bin Laden to change his strategy in Afghanistan and negotiate with the Taliban.
The death of Osama bin Laden offers President Obama an opportunity to emphasize negotiations with the Taliban and facilitate a withdrawal from Afghanistan, even if its impact on global terrorism will be limited.
The death of Osama bin Laden could have broad implications for the war in Afghanistan and the operations of radical jihadist groups around the world.
While Osama bin Laden’s death will not put an end to jihadist groups, it could help facilitate a political solution in Afghanistan, offering President Obama the political capital and opportunity to begin negotiations with the Taliban.
