The United States’s military strategy in Afghanistan is fracturing, but what matters most now in Washington is the domestic electoral timetable.
The architects of a decade's wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya devote great efforts to assessing the military aspects of their operations - yet are silent on the human damage. A new report highlights the international pressure for a shift of focus.
Where is al-Qaida going after the Arab uprisings and the death of Osama bin Laden? The movement again commissions its chosen SWISH consultancy to offer it advice, and openDemocracy once more has exclusive access to the report.
The repositioning of the United States’s military strategy includes a great expansion in the use of armed-drones to attack targets in Pakistan and Yemen. But this development raises profound legal and ethical questions that are now entering the public arena.
The United States's narrative of progress against the Taliban faces uncomfortable realities on the ground - and unexpected resistance in Washington.
The United States’s post-9/11 strategy sought to establish a new order in the middle east. A proposed regional-security constellation involving Baghdad and Tehran is a measure of its failure.
Where is al-Qaida going after the Arab spring and the death of the movement's figurehead? The dynamics of global security in the 21st century offer an answer. The question is also one that the Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad was investigating at the time of his shocking murder.
The death of Osama bin Laden is a crucial military-political opportunity for Barack Obama. But the United States defence complex has Beijing and budgets on its mind.
The west's military-political strategy prolongs the war in Libya and gives space to authoritarian regimes elsewhere in the region.(This article was first published on 19 May 2011)
The afterglow of Osama bin Laden’s killing fuels the United States’s confidence in its shift towards integration of military and security policy. But it is another grand illusion and missed opportunity.
The death of the al-Qaida leader is a symbolic moment. But far more important is that the future of his movement - and much else besides - is closely tied to the success or failure of the Arab risings.
The diplomatic signals point to negotiation with the Taliban as a route to ending the Afghan conflict. But the geopolitical hurdles remain formidable.
