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An Afghan Path Toward Stability

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Greg Bruno, Clare Lockhart - Sep. 30 (Interview) - U.S. involvement is essential in two areas: bolstering Afghan security forces and helping civilian leaders craft a new type of stability compact based on governance models. But she opposes the international "civilian surge" supported by some policymakers, saying an influx of global workers and projects "leached away" the capability of Afghan civilian institutions built up in past decades.

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U.S. War in Afghanistan

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - Sep. 16 (Special Report) - Tracking a war

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Afghan Elections: A Perilous Time

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Bernard Gwertzman - Aug. 17 (Interview) - Ahmed Rashid, a leading expert on Afghanistan, says the August 20 presidential election is "critically important" to achieving political stability in that country. "Political stability needs legitimacy, and a legitimate government is central to that," he says. But he worries that none of candidates will garner the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff election in October.

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Holbrooke's Briefing on Trip to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Brussels, July 2009

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Not Cited - Jul. 29 (Special Report) - Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, gave this press conference on July 29, 2009 following his trip to the region.

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Profile: Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure)

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - Jul. 28 (Special Report) - The Indian government has often accused the group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) of terrorist attacks, including the November 2008 deadly assault in Mumbai that killed nearly two hundred people and injured more than three hundred. LeT is among several banned Pakistani militant groups that experts say received backing from Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, to fight in Indian-administered Kashmir. Analysts say the group continues to operate freely inside Pakistan under a different name and has now become a global terrorist organization.

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Parsing Iran's 'Momentous' Internal Drama

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Bernard Gwertzman - Jun. 19 (Interview) - The weight of the world now rests on the shoulders of Mir-Hossein Mousavi. I expect that Khamenei’s people have privately sent signals to him that they’re ready for a bloodbath; they’re prepared to use overwhelming force to crush this; and is he willing to lead the people in the streets to slaughter?

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Realigning Pakistan's Security Forces

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Jayshree Bajoria - Jun. 18 (News Analysis) - Growing militancy inside Pakistan has spotlighted the inability of the country's security forces to fight domestic insurgency. Militants have been expanding their reach: Large swaths of territory in northwestern Pakistan are out of government control; extremist groups across the country are working together; and suicide bombings frequently rock major cities like Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad. In May, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani described the fight against terrorism (AP) as a "war of the country's survival." The United States sees Pakistani cooperation to defeating its militants as crucial to winning the war in neighboring Afghanistan. The Obama administration, through its Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, is now focused on strengthening Pakistan's counterinsurgency capabilities, and it is pushing for increased assistance for equipment and training for Pakistani forces. But some analysts say Pakistani authorities, especially in the military, don't see the need to convert to a counterinsurgency force and continue to view India as the country's primary threat. Questions of continuing links between some militant groups and Pakistan's security forces--the army, the Frontier Corps, and the military intelligence agency known as the ISI--remain.

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U.S. Should React Cautiously to Iran’s ‘Stolen Election’

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Bernard Gwertzman - Jun. 15 (Interview) - Gary G. Sick, who worked on Iranian affairs for three U.S. administrations, says the reelection of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad amounted to an internal political coup that stole victory from Mir-Hossein Moussavi.

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Obama in Mideast: A Focus on Arab Peace Plan and Reform

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - Jun. 03 (Interview) - CFR Middle East expert Steven A. Cook says President Barack Obama's trip to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week will attempt to bring new energy to resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and has an opportunity to deliver a message on democracy in the Muslim world.

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Crisis Guide: The Korean Peninsula

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - May. 26 (Special Report) - The Korean crisis has drawn the region into ongoing multilateral discussions—Six-Party Talks—and tensions over how to handle the Kim Jong-Il regime. In 2003, the nations represented here began holding the Six-Party Talks with the goal of controlling North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. But abrupt policy shifts by the United States, disagreements among the six countries involved, and most of all North Korea's provocative conduct have made progress toward an agreement difficult to sustain.

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“We hate you guys … but there is nothing much we can do”

Sun, 17 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Brad Setser - May. 17 (News Analysis) - Private Chinese savers presumably wouldn’t want to buy Treasuries at current rates. But China’s current exchange rate regime compels China to buy dollars when private Chinese investors don’t want them.*** The result: a strange world where China’s government ends up buying an asset that China’s people currently do not want …

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Pakistan's Humanitarian Crisis

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Jayshree Bajoria - May. 14 (Interview) - Pakistan's aggressive military campaign against the Taliban in response to the country's growing militant threat has led hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee their homes in the Swat, Buner, and Lower Dir districts of the North West Frontier Province. The humanitarian community is calling this the largest migration of civilians in the region since the 1947 partition of India that led to the formation of Pakistan. Michael Young, Pakistan representative of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian relief organization, says the situation is deteriorating, with projections of 1.8 million displaced, a number that could significantly rise if the fighting widens or intensifies. Young warns that the displaced populations could themselves become a source of unrest, noting the possible presence of militants within the displaced. "There is inevitably going to be some militant presence or families linked to militants," he says.

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U.S.-Pakistan Relations Timeline

Mon, 11 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - May. 11 (Special Report) - U.S. concerns about Soviet expansionism and Pakistan’s desire for security assistance against a perceived threat from India prompt the two countries to sign a mutual defense assistance agreement. Military aid to Pakistan between 1953 and 1961 totals $508 million.

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Pakistan's 'Existential Threat' Comes From Within

Mon, 11 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Bernard Gwertzman - May. 11 (Interview) - "there is a real possibility of a jihadist state emerging in Pakistan sometime in the future. And that has to be one of the worst nightmares American foreign policy could have to deal with." He says it is crucial for Congress to pass the five-year $7.5 billion economic aid package for Pakistan without too many conditions on the bill, so that "we can send a signal to Pakistan that we're in this for the long haul and that it's not a conditions-based relationship."

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Sharia and Militancy

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Toni Johnson - Apr. 23 (News Analysis) - A growing number of countries are struggling to find a balance between secular law and sharia. And sharia has become a rallying cry for Islamic militant movements seeking to show religious authenticity.

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Crisis Guide: Darfur

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - Mar. 04 (Special Report) - After Sudan’s refusal to accept a peacekeeping force authorized in an August 2006 Security Council resolution, the United Nations was hamstrung for months, balking at the notion of violating Sudan’s sovereignty, despite its 2005 adoption of the “responsibility to protect” doctrine, which allows intervention in states unwilling to prevent genocide. But in July 2007, the United Nations

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Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton's Trip To Asia

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Paul B. Stares - Feb. 18 (Interview) - he Japanese are clearly very happy that Secretary Clinton is beginning with her Asia trip with Japan. And they clearly are reassured that Japan still counts in Washington's calculus. Tell us what are the leading sort of issues that she's going to be bringing up with the Japanese and what she's looking to hear from them.

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Toxic banks or toxic assets?

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Brad Setser - Feb. 11 (News Analysis) - If the government provided credit to private investors who put up cash to buy toxic asses, the private investors would take the first loss. That discourages overpayment. But with a non-recourse loan the government on the hook if the value of the toxic assets fell by too much. The private investors could extinguish its debt by handing the toxic assets it bought over to the government.

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The U.S. Economic Stimulus Plan

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Lee Hudson Teslik - Feb. 10 (Special Report) - Economists disagree on the wisdom of extensive stimulus spending, as well as the particulars of the current U.S. plan. Given the current economic climate, most mainstream economists now say that the potential downsides of collapse are sufficiently grave that large stimulatory expenditures may be necessary. As the global financial and economic crisis has worsened, this viewpoint has gained international popularity. In a December 2008 paper released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, leading UN economists call for coordinated stimulus packages across the world's leading economies, above and beyond the money already spent to boost credit market liquidity. Two scholars from the conservative Heritage Foundation argue in a December 2008 paper that the best medicine for the U.S. economy would be to reduce overall government spending. CFR Senior Fellow Amity Shlaes adds that governments can throw good money after bad if they seek to stimulate unsustainable businesses. "It can be perverse because you stimulate something [i.e. an industry] that's really pretty weak and should maybe fade," Shlaes told CFR.org. In a December 2008 op-ed, Shlaes also argued that huge public works projects often fail to revive national economies, as evidenced by Japan's experience during the 1990s.

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Mitchell's Prospects for Lasting Israeli-Palestinian Accord 'Slim to None'

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Bernard Gwertzman - Feb. 02 (Interview) - ... it's clear to me that they've substituted at this stage process for substance. They have no intention of making major changes in America's approach to the Arab-Israeli issue, because right now, the prospects of any sort of conflict-ending agreement between Israelis and Palenstinians are slim to none.

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Beyond Gaza

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Michael Moran - Jan. 09 (News Analysis) - After two weeks of fighting, the United States has signaled support for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Though Washington did not vote in favor of a January 8 UN Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire, its abstention from the vote--rather than a veto--allowed the resolution to pass and increase international pressure on Israel to halt its operations against Hamas forces in Gaza.

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A Smarter Intelligence Policy

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Frank Procida - Jan. 05 (News Analysis) - The President-elect must recognize that he alone, by virtue of his position as the final reader and primary consumer of the Intelligence Community's analysis, already has the ability to institute the process necessary to get the most out of his intelligence bureaucracy.

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Pakistan's Militants Trouble New Delhi and Islamabad

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Michael Moran - Dec. 04 (Interview) - India's has accused "elements inside Pakistan" of orchestrating the late November terrorist attacks on high-profile targets in Mumbai. While such accusations often follow attacks inside India, the scale of these attacks put them in a new category.

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A Pakistan Connection?

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - By Jayshree Bajoria - Dec. 02 (Special Report) - Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari told the Financial Times that even if the militants are linked to the LeT, "who do you think we are fighting?" Some experts say India's allegations fail to take into account the drastically changed relationship between the Pakistani military and some Kashmiri militant groups since Pakistan itself has increasingly become the target of extremist violence. Shuja Nawaz, author of the book "Crossed Swords: Pakistan, its Army, and the Wars Within," told CFR.org earlier this year the ISI has "lost control" of Kashmiri militant groups. However, Ashley Tellis, an expert on South Asia at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told CNN's Fareed Zakaria he's not sure whether the Pakistan army can bring itself "to enforce the writ of the Pakistani state" over groups which they might have supported in the past.

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Crisis Guide: Climate Change

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Council on Foreign Relations - Dec. 01 (Special Report) - [Interactive Content] There is almost no question that temperatures are rising on average globally. Over the last half century the rate of warming has been about double the rate of warming that we've seen over the last century as a whole. Eleven of the last twelve years have been in the twelve warmest years on record. There is a possibility that we'll discover some flaws in the temperature record, but it's extremely unlikely that people will find that warming is not occurring at the kinds of rates that we are seeing now.

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