EWI vice president Pal Sidhu appeared on Iran’s Press TV discussing security challenges the U.S. faces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among other topics, Sidhu discusses the eradication of poppy fields in Afghanistan, instability in Pakistan, and the prospects for regional approaches to ensure the stability of Southwest Asia.
Greg Austin suggested on Euronews, Europe’s leading international news channel, that NATO must invest in a “civilian surge” in Afghanistan, similar to the strategy under consideration in the U.S.
EWI's David Kilcullen, an influential military adviser to Western governments, on the possibility of negotiating with the Taliban.
An Australian counter-insurgency specialist who was a technical adviser to Washington on Iraq in 2005-08, Kilcullen was speaking on Wednesday on the sidelines of a conference hosted by the EastWest Institute security thinktank.
Al-Qaeda has "regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability" using a new haven in the lawless frontier area of northwest Pakistan known as Waziristan, according to the National Intelligence Estimate released July 17
The question is: What is the United States going to do about it?
For those who might have forgotten in the six years since Sept. 11, 2001, what a reconstituted al-Qaeda could do, the intelligence analysts explained that the terrorist group has "the goal of producing mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks and/or fear among the U.S. population." The analysts noted that al-Qaeda continues to seek biological, radiological and nuclear weapons "and would not hesitate to use them."
