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- The London Ministerial on Yemen, Center
for American Progress
- The Urgency of the Moment, Caroline
Wadhams
- A Comprehensive Approach to Yemen, April
Alley
- Volunteers for Haiti, Louis Caldera
- Debating Admiral Mullen's Performance,
Lawrence Korb
- Unanswered Questions on Afghanistan and
Pakistan Policy, Brian Katulis
- Doing a Disservice to Women Who Serve,
Lawrence Korb and Jessica Arons
- The False Promise of Primacy, Nina
Hachigian
- Criminal Courts Are Tougher on Terrorists
Than Military Detention, Ken Gude
- Assessing Long-Term Goals in Afghanistan
and Pakistan, Brian Katulis
- False Conservative Narratives on
Administration Counter-terror Practices, Caroline Wadhams
- Concerns On the Karzai Reconciliation
Plans, Brian Katulis
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"The London Ministerial on Yemen," Center for American
Progress, January 25, 2010
The
London Ministerial on Yemen is a welcome opportunity for the
international community together with the Yemeni government to think
through and develop a number of initiatives that will address a
combination of social and security challenges that are of relevance to
Yemeni citizens and the international community. On January 19, 2010,
in Washington, the Center for Strategic and
International Studies and the Center for American Progress convened
approximately 20 experts from government and nongovernmental
organizations drawn from a range of disciplines to puzzle through a set
of recommendations that might be considered at the London Ministerial.
Click here to
read the full memo.
Caroline Wadhams, "The Urgency of the Moment," Center
for American Progress, January 27, 2010
Military and civilian leaders in
Afghanistan and around the world have
argued that Afghanistan's instability requires a political solution. A
political strategy should indeed drive military action, but the reverse
has been true in Afghanistan for many years. The international
community's diplomatic and political strategies remain murky for
Afghanistan, and its civilian programs pale in comparison to its
military might.
Click here to
read the full article.
April Alley, "A
Comprehensive Approach to Yemen," Middle
East Bulletin interview, January 26, 2010
A comprehensive approach must combine diplomatic, development and
defense elements of U.S. foreign policy. In the past, the U.S. has
viewed Yemen through a narrow counterterrorism lens. The main point of
the article was that the security challenges in Yemen cannot be solved
primarily, or even mostly, through military means. I also argued that
the U.S. should recognize the necessity of coordinating with
international—and particularly regional—players. Ambassador
Feltman's testimony before Congress indicates that the administration
is headed in the right direction. ... But the devil is in the details.
Click here to
read the full interview.
Louis Caldera,
"Volunteers for Haiti," Center for American Progress, January 26, 2010
We’re told that giving cash that can be deployed by nonprofit
relief
agencies like the Red Cross is the best way to help earthquake victims
in Haiti. Those who can’t give cash are searching their closets
and
cupboards for clothes and goods to donate. We give, we read the news,
and we pray. But isn’t there a way that individual Americans
should be
able to do more personally and collectively?
Click here to
read the full article.
Lawrence Korb,
"Debating Admiral Mullen's Performance," Center for American Progress,
January 26, 2010
On
January 13, 2010, I published an op-ed in The Washington Post
that took exception to a column that David Ignatius had written on
December 26, 2009, praising Admiral Michael Mullen’s performance
as
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The op-ed generated a lot of e-mails and letters to me, most of
them
favorable. In fact, one retired field grade officer said this was the
first time he had ever agreed with me. The Post did publish two
letters complaining about my article. With its permission, here are the
letters and my responses.
Click here to
read the full article.
Brian Katulis,
"Unanswered Questions on Afghanistan and Pakistan Policy," Center for
American Progress, January 26, 2010
The Obama administration last week released its latest strategy paper
for Afghanistan and Pakistan,
a document that provides more details on what it is planning for the
two countries. This paper is the most concrete explication of what
applying the Obama administration’s “smart power”
national security
approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan will look like—the full use
of all
national security tools at America’s disposal. But it leaves
three key
questions unanswered: 1. What is the end state that the United States
seeks in Afghanistan and Pakistan?
2. What is U.S. policy on dealing with both countries’ internal
power struggles?
3. What role do countries in the region such as India and Iran play?
Click here to
read the full article.
Lawrence Korb and
Jessica Arons, "Doing a Disservice to Women Who Serve," Baltimore Sun, January 22, 2010
Today, on its 37th anniversary, Roe v. Wade is still an unfulfilled
promise for the women in our military. Women soldiers serving their
country overseas and in the United States face impediments to accessing
reproductive health care that most civilians take for granted. While
military personnel must give up some rights enjoyed by civilians, there
is no compelling reason for the current policies and practices that
circumscribe their reproductive rights.
Click here to
read the full article.
Nina Hachigian, "The
False Promise of Primacy," Center for American Progress, January 21,
2010
One unquestionable success of the Obama administration so far has
been to turn the page on the failed Bush foreign policy framework. Not
so, says Robert Kagan, who reveals a perverse nostalgia for the
previous paradigm in recent writings.
To understand why, you have to remember that American foreign policy
leaders during the Bush administration clung to the false promise of
primacy, the belief that the lynchpin of American security was for it
to remain more powerful than all other countries by a huge, fixed
margin. Mona Sutphen and I described why this was a misguided strategy
in our 2008 book, The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can
Thrive As Other Powers Rise, but the proof is in the pudding. And
in the end, the primacy strategy didn’t deliver.
Click here to
read the full article.
Ken Gude, "Criminal Courts Are Tougher on Terrorists
Than Military Detention," Center for American Progress, January 20, 2010
The decisions to prosecute the failed
underwear bomber and hold the
rumored trial of the Bali bombing mastermind in federal criminal court
in Washington, D.C. has revived the debate over whether criminal courts
or military commissions are more effective in prosecuting suspected
terrorists. Many conservative critics are simply seeking to exploit
terrorism for political gain with specious attacks on President Barack
Obama. They rely on a presumption that a military response is always
the toughest available option, but even former Bush administration
officials say these conservatives’ faith in military commissions
is
misplaced. The facts are clear: Criminal courts are a far tougher and
more reliable forum for prosecuting terrorists than military
commissions.
Click here to
read the full article.
Ask the Expert - Brian Katulis analyzes the
unanswered questions in the administration's strategy for Afghanistan
and Pakistan: "We have a clear goal, which is to
defeat and dismantle Al Qaeda in both countries and make sure they
don't come back. But the central question of what it is we're actually
trying to build--what sorts of institutions we need to leave behind,
what are we doing as part of this civilian surge in Afghanistan, and
when do we know when their job is done? This is still an unanswered
question."
Associated Press - Caroline Wadhams says
conservative critics of current administration anti-terror efforts are
constructing a false narrative: ''President Obama
is being incredibly tough on terrorism in the sense that he's
aggressively pursuing terrorists in Pakistan, escalating efforts in
Afghanistan, sending more money to Yemen ... it was
already a priority.''
Reuters -
Brian Katulis examines proposals for a reconciliation policy with
elements of the Taliban insurgency: "My biggest concern is whether the
Afghan government has the capacity
to do it. What is the plan both at a national level and
province-by-province?"
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Obama Administration Energy Diplomacy in Eurasia
January 28,
10:00-11:30 AM
The Eurasian region is critical to U.S. energy
security. With its
abundant natural resources and large economic base, Eurasia presents
opportunities to address supply concerns and to develop new markets.
However, as the gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine have
demonstrated, it is also the locus of important challenges to the
interests of the United States and our allies.
Please join the Center for American Progress for
an event featuring Ambassador Richard
L. Morningstar, special envoy for Eurasian energy,
who is the senior State Department official responsible for energy
issues relating to Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Central Asia, and
the Caucasus. In his talk, Ambassador Morningstar will offer the first
comprehensive public statement of Obama administration policy on this
subject.
For more
information on speakers and to RSVP, please click here.
Elevating Human Rights on the U.S. Policy Agenda for
Iran
February 1,
12:00-1:00 PM
The massive street protests following Iran's
presidential election
of June 2009 highlighted Iranians' disapproval of their ruling regime.
Continuing protests during subsequent Iranian holidays and observances
have showed that Iran's opposition movement remains vital, and also
signaled that Tehran's grip on power may be somewhat vulnerable if the
international community steadfastly supports Iranians' basic
rights.
With large demonstrations expected during the
February 11
anniversary of Iran's 1979 revolution, likely to be followed by another
government crackdown, this forum will examine the policy options
currently being debated by the administration, and discuss ways to
effectively harness human rights promotion to pressure on the Iranian
regime.
For more
information on speakers and to RSVP, please click here.
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