Content

AfricaSource

Nov 17, 2014

Boko Haram’s big week: Why we should care

By J. Peter Pham

Last week was a good week for the militant group Boko Haram and much less so for Nigeria and its neighbors, although one would be hard pressed to tell it from the relative nonchalance with which significant developments in the West African country’s fight against the brutal insurgency have been greeted not only by American […]

Conflict Nigeria

Event Recap

Nov 10, 2014

The Islamic State and beyond: US military strategy in the Middle East

By Atlantic Council

“We have been fighting extremists for over thirteen years now, and we are nowhere near finished,” CENTCOM commander says at the Atlantic Council In a September 10 address to the nation, US President Barack Obama outlined a four-pronged strategy to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) that included a […]

Conflict Middle East

Issue Brief

Oct 27, 2014

Reforming Tunisia’s troubled security sector

By Bassem Bouguerra

In a new Atlantic Council issue brief titled “Reforming Tunisia’s Troubled Security Sector,” Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East nonresident fellow and security sector reform activist Bassem Bouguerra explains the barriers to reforming the North African country’s troubled security apparatus and offers possible paths forward for reform. Rather than undermining government efforts to counter […]

Extremism North Africa

Event Recap

Oct 1, 2014

The future of unknown conflict

By Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council introduced Dave Antony as a nonresident fellow for the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security on October 1st, where he will be working on the “Art of Future War” project. The event, moderated by August Cole, the project’s director, featured everything from 3D printers to flying drones which served as the backdrop […]

Conflict Security & Defense

AfricaSource

Sep 8, 2014

Africa’s Islamic State?

By J. Peter Pham

Even as, coming out of the annual NATO summit in Wales, the United States and its allies are promising to ratchet up their response to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, another militant group, Boko Haram, is rapidly gaining ground in Africa, achieving many of the same operational and strategic successes that have made […]

Extremism Nigeria

Event Recap

Apr 2, 2013

The African state and the failure of US counterterrorism initiatives in Africa

By Africa Center

The Michael S. Ansari Africa Center hosted a luncheon presentation by Hussein Solomon, senior professor in the department of political science at the University of the Free State in South Africa, on “The African State and the Failure of US Counterterrorism Initiatives in Africa.” Drawing upon his recent research on Mali, Nigeria, and Somalia, among […]

Sahel Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 10, 2011

Deterrence for the post-9/11 era

By Barry Pavel & Matthew Kroenig

Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker’s new book, Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against al Qaeda, credits our role in developing the first US government-wide strategy for deterring terrorist networks. They write that we “crafted a briefing to make the case that a combination of efforts — economic, diplomatic, military, political, and psychological … could in fact […]

Terrorism

Report

Feb 1, 2011

Learning by doing: The Pakistan army’s experience with counterinsurgency

By Shuja Nawaz

In the South Asia Center report “Learning by Doing: The Pakistan Army’s Experience with Counterinsurgency,” Center Director and author Shuja Nawaz examines the doctrinal shift toward counterinsurgency (COIN) that has taken place in the Pakistan army in recent years. The army appears to have learned many lessons from its experiences in Swat in 2008 and […]

Extremism Pakistan
Pakistan soldiers

External

Jun 11, 2010

The Afghanistan-Pakistan theater: Militant Islam, security & stability

What is the optimal strategy for the United States and its allies to pursue in Afghanistan? Observers across the political spectrum agree that military operations alone are not enough to secure Afghanistan against a powerful insurgency linked to global jihadism. There is increasing consensus as well that Pakistan – a refuge for important al-Qaeda figures, […]

Afghanistan Extremism

Experts

Events