Pakistan’s police force has historically been constrained by the military and intelligence agencies and often politicized as an instrument of repression. Reforming civilian security forces will diminish Islamabad’s dependence on the military and increase the legitimacy of the regime.
The selection of General David Petraeus offers a window to analyze the grim realities in Afghanistan and start implementing the most effective way forward.
The odds that the United States will fulfill India's request to extradite former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson over the Bhopal gas tragedy twenty-five years ago are not high.
The departure of General McChrystal and arrival of General Petraeus provides a golden opportunity to abandon a failing strategy in Afghanistan.
President Obama had no choice but to dismiss McChrystal. With Petraeus, though, he managed to make a personnel change without a hint of policy change.
Countering the terrorist threat of militant groups operating in Pakistan requires not only combating those groups in Pakistan’s tribal areas, but also disrupting their global connections.
Negotiating a broad agreement with the Taliban leadership to form a national unity government may not hold a guarantee of success, but the cost of the failure of such negotiations is negligible compared with the opportunity for a relatively swift way out of the crisis.
While the United States has no choice but to deal with Karzai, the Afghan leader’s power is falling and the coalition’s military strategy is at an impasse.
The surge in Afghanistan is not working. The counterinsurgency strategy attempted in Marja did not succeed, and the offensive in Kandahar is likely to fail as well.
President Obama has placed a greater emphasis on the need for a regional approach to Afghanistan. Leading experts analyze what a regional strategy would mean in practice through the eyes of key states, including Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and India, and what it could mean for U.S. policy.