Continued Pakistani support for the terrorist group Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) threatens to undermine the delicate peace between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan and plunge the region into conflict, with significant consequences for American interests abroad.
In gauging the prospects for U.S. strategy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is important to understand and take into account China’s deep-rooted strategic interests in the region.
While growing Islamic extremism in Yemen is alarming, in the longer term it is the country’s domestic challenges that threaten to bring Yemen to its knees, with potentially destabilizing consequences for the region.
President Obama’s self-imposed deadline for closing the U.S. military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay has passed. It may take years to fully close the facility because the real problem is not only Guantanamo, but the entire U.S. detention policy.
The Obama administration’s goal of closing the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay was encouraging, but unrealistic; the larger issue that must first be addressed is the entire U.S. detainee policy and the need for disengagement programs that mitigate the chance of former detainees engaging in violent activities.
Yemen’s multiple economic and security problems transcend the threat posed by al-Qaeda. Without immediate involvement on the part of the international community to address Yemen’s many crises, the country risks becoming a failed state.
Over the past eight years, al-Qaeda has experienced a metamorphosis. The man now poised to succeed Osama bin Laden, and the embodiment of the “New Al-Qaeda Man,” is Shaykh Abu Yahya al-Libi, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise into the senior ranks of al-Qaeda and has been integral in recalibrating al-Qaeda.
The Yemeni government, already saddled with two protracted conflicts, is expending more time and resources battling al-Qaeda, as the organization’s presence in the country has become more high profile and dangerous.
Given the multi-faceted challenges facing Yemen, resources for fighting al-Qaeda are scarce. The international community must assist Yemen not only in short term counterterrorism initiatives, but also in crucial long term development assistance.
The resurgence of al-Qaeda in Yemen and around the world demands a comprehensive counterterrorism approach. In order to combat al-Qaeda and similar groups, the international community must focus on capacity building in weak states and de-radicalization programs.


















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