Tag Archives: Al Qaeda

For Afghanistan, al-Zawahiri’s death may have dire implications. Accusations of cooperating with the Americans will affect the already divided Taliban leadership – which could lead to bitter internecine fighting within it. And the presence of a terrorist as prominent as al-Zawahiri supposedly under the protection of senior Taliban cadres will not help US-Taliban relations. It is a direct breach of the Doha accords.

The ISIL is getting foothold in Afghanistan whose weak government has no counter-terrorism strategy to deal with the emerging threat, warns one Afghan analyst.

How realistic are expectations about Africa’s economic prospects? There are several reasons why we should be both optimistic and cautious about the continent's future economic performance.

There is a formidable challenge in reversing the consequences of Pakistan’s flawed policies of ‘strategic depth’ and containing the contagion of religious radicalization. Until the government, and its entire security apparatus, drastically revises its strategic matrix, divorces itself from the radical groups it helped create and draws up an internal security strategy, it will find it hard to shake off the image that Pakistan is the crucible of terrorism.

His three predecessors despite holding a variety of distinguished public offices, could not really be regarded as “insiders” at the Pentagon. Ash Carter has a wealth of experience working there. But despite his pedigree, Carter represents something of a risky appointment for the president.

The U.S. wants countries like Iraq and Syria to remain unified failing which it fears complicated new realities will emerge. But those complications are already here

Modern navies, struggling with personnel costs, have tried their mightiest to reduce crew size over the last several decades. In practical terms, this means that there simply isn’t a lot of wasted space in a ship crew. Hijackers could ignore or jerry-rig some of the critical functions of the ship, but probably not for long, and not very effectively.

If Libya, Syria and Iraq are coming undone and Ukraine has been gravely destabilized, it is the result of interventions by big powers that claim to be international law enforcers when, in reality, they are lawbreakers.

Contrary to the view that extremism thrives when America is absent, empirical facts indicate that the opposite is truer. And each of the countries at the center of global concerns over extremism is in fact one that has seen direct or indirect western intervention, not western absence

The military operation in North Waziristan is only one dimension of the wider battle against militancy and violent extremism in Pakistan. The militant groups have strong networks across the South Asian country. For a long-term solution, Pakistan needs to develop a coherent and overarching counterterrorism strategy in order to strengthen the capacity of the civilian law-enforcement and intelligence agencies.