The true impact of U.S. policy toward Afghanistan is considerably at odds with the Bush Administration's expansive rhetoric. The United States seeks to wage the war on terrorism, establish a democratic Afghanistan and reconstruct the country. However, in Afghanistan, due to the lack of security... MORE

Sheberghan, Northern Afghanistan. August 2003. On the windswept plains outside this gas-producing town on the steppes of northern Afghanistan is a graveyard containing the bodies of 114 commanders killed in the early days of the war on terror. Above each grave is a picture of... MORE

Since the overthrow of the Taliban, most media reports on Afghanistan have warned of rising lawlessness throughout the countryside. Outside the capital Kabul, which is patrolled by international peacekeeping troops, we are told that "anarchy" prevails. The reports attribute this state of affairs to America's... MORE

Introduction Western security interests in East Africa have been cast in a new light during the past two years, with policy makers in both Britain and the United States expressing increased concern over the region's potential to emerge as a new front for jihadist extremism... MORE

SCIRI The United States faces three adversaries in its attempts to stabilize and democratize Iraq. These are indigenous Arab Nationalists (Baathist or otherwise), foreign Sunni Islamists and Shia extremists. The Sunni Islamists are the least formidable of the three. Iraq lacks the Sunni Islamist political... MORE

The potential problems posed by sea-borne terrorism are most severe in the 600-mile (1,000-km) long Straits of Malacca, transited by 50,000 ships a year, where a combination of traditional piracy and indigenous Muslim extremist movements combine to make maritime passage of the long, narrow waterway... MORE

The Hizb ut Tahrir al Islami (Islamic Liberation party, HuT) transnational Islamic radical movement is widely reported to have become stronger in Central Asia over the course of 2003 despite the widespread anti-terrorist activities in the region that have gravely damaged al Qaida and the... MORE

Fears of atomic smuggling in ships date back to the very dawn of the atomic age. On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt informing him that work by his colleagues Leo Szilard and Enrico Fermi indicated that uranium could... MORE

A comprehensive campaign against international terrorism is impossible without blocking the channels of its financing. This is no easy task. Currently, about US$3 trillion are transferred daily from one party to another within international financial markets. But of that total, it is estimated that the... MORE

Though Afghanistan today faces many threats, the greatest is that from Islamist extremists inside the country as well as those sheltering in the neighboring provinces of Pakistan. The most recent period has seen adversaries of the Karzai government and the US regroup their main forces.... MORE