Terrorism

NYC EVENT: Afghanistan Today

Communications — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/17/2008 - 9:00am

As the U.S. engages in a simmering war as well as in continued attempts at building infrastructure, the conference will consider a wide-ranging set of questions in order to clarify policy choices regarding both military and civilian investment in the country. What is the current state of the Taliban? What might the reversion of Afghanistan into failed-state status mean? How prevalent -- and how effective -- has counterinsurgency been in the country? What are the possibilities for increasing the size of the Afghan army and for embedding U.S. advisors and troops? What role does NATO play? What are the realistic scenarios for stemming the drug trade, and for mounting reconstruction? As a result, the day promises to provide a comprehensive picture of the challenges that face America’s foreign policy establishment as one administration transitions power to the next.

Co-sponsored by The Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law and the New America Foundation.

Nir Rosen on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer Online | 'Journalist Recounts His Experiences With Taliban in Afghanistan'

Articles — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:52:00 -0400

New America in the News:
When journalist Nir Rosen traveled to Afghanistan last summer, his plan was to travel with a group of Taliban fighters for 10 days and report on their activity. Instead, he was detained by a rival Taliban commander and accused of being a spy. Rosen describes his experiences to Robert Zeliger of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. LINK to audio and transcript

Peter Bergen in the Daily Times | 'Al Qaeda Killing More Muslims Than ‘Infidels’'

Articles — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:59:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Al Qaeda is killing more Muslims than what it calls ‘infidels’, something that is going to be a ‘game changer’ for the terrorist group, according to Peter Bergen of the New America Foundation.

He was speaking at a one-day conference on Al Qaeda organised by the Foundation and the New York University Centre for Law and Security. Al Qaeda, Bergen said is losing public support in Muslim countries and one thing is certain: will never become Hezbollah or Hamas. Al Qaeda, he added, has ‘no Plan B’. It attacked a far enemy, the United States, to get a near enemy, an Arab regime. Al Qaeda was now trying to become a mass movement riding on the back of the Taliban. LINK

Anatol Lieven in The Telegraph | 'If Pakistan Goes Bust, the Taliban Will Rule the Roost There as Well'

Articles — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:49:00 -0400

New America in the News:
What is even more troubling is that support for the insurgents in Pakistan appears to be growing at an alarming rate. Dr Anatol Lieven, a terrorism expert from King's College London, who has just returned from a six-week tour of the region, said yesterday that virtually every local Pashtun tribesman he encountered expressed their support for the Taliban and their allies in their war against "the infidel occupier". There was also widespread sympathy for the attacks on the Pakistani government for allying itself so closely with the West. LINK

How Not to Lose Afghanistan (and Pakistan)

American Strategy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:24:00 -0400

In late May, some 40 Pakistani journalists received a summons to an unusual press conference held by Baitullah Mehsud, the rarely photographed leader of the Pakistani Taliban, who is accused of orchestrating the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, sending suicide bombers to Spain earlier this year, and dispatching an army of fighters into Afghanistan to attack U.S. and NATO forces in recent months. Surrounded by a posse of heavily armed Taliban guards, Mehsud boasted that he had hundreds of trained suicide bombers ready for martyrdom.

It was an extraordinarily brazen public performance for a man who is supposedly in hiding.[1] The press conference was held in… more

Al Qaeda 3.0

Communications — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/10/2008 - 8:45am

At Al Qaeda 3.0, leading policy makers, law enforcement officials, scholars and journalists from around the world assessed the current threat posed by al Qaeda and its affiliates to the United States, Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. The conference speakers also explored what steps the next administration should take in combating al Qaeda and its affiliates both at home and abroad.

The conference was moderated by Steve Clemons, Director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and Karen Greenberg, Executive Director of the NYU Center on Law and Security.

The live webcast of this event has concluded. Links to video recordings of each panel are available below.

Co-hosted by the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program and New York University’s Center on Law and Security.

A Man, A Plan, Afghanistan

Articles — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:11:00 -0400

In late May, some 40 Pakistani journalists received a summons to an unusual press conference given by Baitullah Mehsud, the rarely photographed leader of the Pakistani Taliban, who is accused of orchestrating the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, of sending suicide bombers to Spain earlier this year, and of dispatching an army of fighters into Afghanistan to attack U. S. and NATO forces in recent months. Surrounded by a posse of heavily armed Taliban guards, Mehsud boasted that he had hundreds of trained suicide bombers ready for martyrdom.

It was an extraordinarily brazen public performance for a man who is supposedly on the run. The conference wasn't in a… more

Steve Coll in the Middle East Times | 'October Surprise?'

Communications — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:57:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Steve Coll, president of the New America Foundation and author of several books on al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, spoke with The Atlantic magazine about the possibility of a terrorist attack to correspond with the U.S. presidential election.

Though he ruled out a major attack on U.S. soil or associated targets, Coll said the potential exists for al-Qaida media releases and attacks in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

"They like to be heard at big moments in American politics, and this campaign is certainly such a moment," he said. LINK

Peter Bergen in the Christian Science Monitor | 'Iraqi Insurgents Forced Underground'

Communications — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:00:00 -0400

New America in the News:
"If [AQI members] were smart, they would say this requires kind of a strategic rethink and we need to be a more touchy-feely Al Qaeda in the future. I think there's been some very mild evidence that Al Qaeda in Iraq has done that, but not enough to really bring it back to the position where it was in 2006," says Peter Bergen, a prominent Al Qaeda expert and senior fellow at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit public policy institute in Washington. LINK

Peter Bergen in CQ Politics | ' How to Defeat al Qaeda: Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There'

Communications — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:05:00 -0400

New America in the News:

“Islam will defeat al Qaeda, we won’t,” said Peter Bergen, a scholar with the New America Foundation and noted writer on al Qaeda.

Don’t believe him? Consider, Bergen says, al Qaeda’s strategic errors: the bombings in Indonesia in 2002 and 2005, which killed about 222 and wounded 338; the bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2003, which killed about 35 and wounded more than 160; the hotel bombings in Amman, Jordan, in 2005, which killed about 60 and wounded 115; and, of course, Sept. 11, which killed nearly 3,000. Al Qaeda’s attacks have been so egregious, even Osama bin Laden’s spiritual mentor, Salman al-Awda, took, to the airwaves in 2007 to denounce the al Qaeda leader, and his tactics, by name. LINK