Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Hillary Clinton: NATO’s Future

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke on the future of NATO before the Atlantic Council on February 22.  Council Chairman Senator Chuck Hagel offered welcoming remarks, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright introduced Secretary Clinton.

The Challenge: NATO Amidst Geopolitical Realities

Rob de Wijk, member of the Strategic Advisors Group (SAG), highlights the need for NATO to address three new challenges as it drafts the 2010 Strategic Concept in “The Challenge: NATO in the Realm of New Geopolitical Realities.” Download the PDF

India and Pakistan: Give Dialogue a Chance

By Sherry Rehman

The resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan is always weighed down by anxiety about outcomes. After the July 26 blasts in Mumbai, New Delhi cut off the composite dialogue process with Islamabad. The foreign secretaries of both countries are now scheduled to meet on Wednesday, February 24th to begin talks again.

Pakistan Optimism Premature?

By James Joyner

While the cooperation of Pakistan’s intelligence service in the capture of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been highly touted as a sign of improved relations with the United States, some are not convinced.

Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance: Canada in Afghanistan

Canadian Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance, the former Commander of Joint Task Force 5-09 who until recently commanded all Canadian and NATO Forces in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, spoke before the Atlantic Council on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan from a Canadian perspective.

Extending Vietnamization to Afghanistan

By Don Snow

The war in Afghanistan took a familiar turn this week, as the U.S. Marines began an Aghan “surge” to wrest the city of Marja in the opium-infested province of Helmand from the Taliban. The term “surge” kept coming up to describe the purpose and intent of the operation, presumably because of the widely advertised “success” […]

Iran Options: Sanctions and Strikes

By Jonathan Paris

The inexorable march of the Iranian regime towards nuclear weapons has produced a growing international consensus for serious sanctions. After a year of engagement by President Obama, the Iranians have made it clear that they are not eager to reciprocate by compromising on their nuclear program. The international community now appears to be following a […]

U.S. – Pakistan Capture Taliban Commander

By James Joyner

The apparent capture of Afghan Taliban military commander Abdul Ghani Baradar is not only great news in NATO’s war against the militants but potentially a very strong signal of improved cooperation between Pakistan and the United States. Mark Mazzeti and Dexter Filkins broke the news this morning in the NYT. The Taliban’s top military commander […]

Taliban and Al Qaeda: A Shotgun Wedding

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

When U.S. President Barack Obama endorsed the Afghan war as his own the reason he gave was "because that’s where al Qaeda is."  In point of fact, al Qaeda skedaddled out of Afghanistan shortly after Oct. 7, 2001, when U.S. troops invaded.

Hawk-Industrial Complex Hamstrings USA

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

"Clueless in Washington" was how The Economist, a British weekly read by movers and shakers the world over, headlined America’s crisis in governance. Neither the president nor Congress shows any sign of knowing how to tackle the budget deficit.

Pakistan-US Relations: A Marriage That Needs Work

By Harlan Ullman

For more than 60 years the U.S.-Pakistani relationship has veered between despair and euphoria. In a very social sense, the two states could be characterized as an aging married couple occupying very distant parts of a large, deteriorating house whose plumbing, electrics and phone systems are in disrepair and who are at a loss on […]

Iran’s Nuclear Threat to NATO

By Gregory Schulte

As NATO prepares a new Strategic Concept, the Alliance must address the dangerous prospect of a new and direct security threat:  Iran, under the grip of a hostile and authoritarian leadership, armed with and emboldened by nuclear weapons.

U.S. and Kazakhstan Need a Truly Strategic Partnership

By Boyko Nitzov

The omens are good, the stars in a benign juxtaposition: during recent hearings on the hill, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister Kanat Saudabaev and hearing participants struck a common note on a number of strategic issues. We may be witnessing the birth of a much needed strategic partnership.

Obama’s Iraq Policy Must be Focused on More than Withdrawal

By Henry Kissinger

In a 71-minute State of the Union address, President Obama managed no more than 101 perfunctory words about Iraq. Throughout its term, the administration has recoiled from discussing Iraq’s geostrategic significance and especially America’s relation to it.

Virtual Threats in the Real World: The Challenge of Cyberspace

By Derek Reveron

Within just the last decade, people have become as dependent on the virtual world for their daily activities as they are dependent on the physical world for human activities. Consider the implications for yourself when the network is down, cell phone calls are dropped, or a virus crashes your network.

The Next Four Years in American Defense

By Derek Reveron

After too many leaks, the Defense Department released its quadrennial defense review (QDR). Congress mandates a periodic strategic review of the national defense strategy, force structure, force modernization plans, infrastructure, budget plan, and other elements of the defense program and policies of the United States.

Afghanistan and U.S.-Pakistan Relations

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

All the talk is how to end the Afghan war, not how to win it. Until recently, powers that be in Washington were proselytizing about the need for a long-term commitment – five to 10 years if necessary – to defeat the Taliban.

Justice in Bangladesh after 34 Years

By Zafar Sobhan

Bangladesh’s long national nightmare is finally over. Not entirely over, of course. There are still six convicted killers absconding beyond the reach of the law, and there remain, and perhaps always will remain, unanswered questions about that dark night in Bangladeshi history and its aftermath.

India and Pakistan are Nuclear States—Let’s Make it Official

By Luv Puri

In May 1998, surprise nuclear tests by India and Pakistan transformed regional strategic calculations and added a dangerous new dimension to tensions between the two. According to Taylor Branch, writing in The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President, Indian officials who spoke with Bill Clinton were fully aware of the potential devastation a clash […]