The recent Taliban arrests and subsequent releases by the Pakistani government point not to chance or incompetence but to a well thought out foreign policy strategy that navigates through a raging storm of competing foreign policy interests.
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The May 17 nuclear declaration between Iran, Brazil, and Turkey is a positive step but it does not resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis since Iran will continue enriching uranium on its own. The declaration might stall UN sanctions against Iran particularly if China or...
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The whiplash strategy that was intended to strengthen the Afghan government by pressuring Karzai to go after corruption has had the opposite effect. It has erased what remaining credibility that Karzai possessed after last year’s election. Afghan consensus building may provide a better solution.
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Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Omar has indicated that neither he nor the Taliban aim to be involved in politics in the future. Before this can happen, however, the Taliban wants foreign troops out and the Afghan constitution “repaired”.
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Competing political and economic interests towards Iran in the international community have weakened US resolve to contain Iran. Today, the focus on containing Iran is to stall Iran’s development of the bomb for as long as possible and then to limit Iran’s ability to...
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The April 2010 Nuclear Security Summit probably signals that President Obama has yielded to Iran’s ambition to acquire nuclear weapons and has shifted his strategy to contain Iran instead. However, this new version of the Containment strategy has a major flaw: it assumes that...
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President Obama knows that he cannot just abolish all US nuclear weapons. Such a policy would endanger America’s national security so long as other states have them. So how can Obama win Middle East support in his effort to keep isolating Iran? He is...
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President Obama needs to decide if Iran’s attempt to acquire nuclear weapons is a “red line” for America. If it is not, then a softer policy vis-à-vis Iran is possible. If it is a red line, then even extreme measures should be considered.
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The January and February breakthroughs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India have extended to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in March. The Obama administration believes correctly that South Asia’s major crises are linked. It also may think that the Iranian nuclear crisis is linked to the Israeli-Palestinian...
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