The US should shift strategy against al-Qaeda from the current heavy reliance on military force to more effective use of police and intelligence work, a study released yesterday concluded.
The study by the RAND Corporation, a think tank that often does work for the US military, also urged the US to drop the “war on terror” label.
“Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors, and our analysis suggests that there is no battlefield solution to terrorism,” said Seth Jones, lead author of the study.
The US military has pressed for more troops to combat an intensifying Islamic insurgency in Afghanistan, but the RAND study recommends only “a light military footprint or none at all.”
The study examined how terrorist groups since 1968 have ended, and found that only 7 percent were defeated militarily.
Most were neutralized either through political settlements (43 percent), or through the use of police and intelligence forces (40 percent) to disrupt and capture or kill leaders.
“Military force has rarely been the primary reason for the end of terrorist groups, and few groups within this time frame achieved victory,” the report said. “This has significant implications for dealing with al-Qaeda and suggests fundamentally rethinking post-September 11 counterterrorism strategy.”
It said a US strategy centered on the use of military force has not worked, pointing to al-Qaeda’s resurgence along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border nearly seven years after the 2001 attacks.
Policing and intelligence “should be the backbone” of efforts, it said.
Police and intelligence agencies were better suited for penetrating terrorist groups and tracking down terrorist leaders, it said.
“Second, military force, though not necessarily US soldiers, may be a necessary instrument when al-Qaeda is involved in an insurgency,” it said.
“Local military forces frequently have more legitimacy to operate than the United States has, and they have a better understanding of the operating environment, even if they need to develop the capacity to deal with insurgent groups over the long run,” it said.
While the military can play a critical role in building up the capacity of local forces, it should “generally resist being drawn into combat operations in Muslim societies, since its presence is likely to increase terrorist recruitment,” the study said.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS