Terrorism

Maybe so, but there have been several credible reports about Chitral as Bin Laden’s likeliest hideout, including by CNN terrorism analyst and Bin Laden biographer Peter Bergen in late 2006 and one account less than a year ago. ...

Taliban leaders including Mullah Mohammed Omar have made clear in public pronouncements that they have no interest in an accord with Kabul, author Peter Bergen told a recent congressional hearing. Omar last week called on Pakistani insurgents to focus ...

It is a longstanding cliché that there is no military solution in Afghanistan, only a political one.

Linked to this is the newer, related notion, rapidly becoming a cliché, that the United States should start making deals with elements of the "reconcilable" Taliban.

As with many clichés, there is some truth to both these notions, but neither of these comforting ideas are a substitute for a strategy that is connected to what is happening on the ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"A lot of these weapon systems that are big-ticket items now have no purpose," said William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank. "The Taliban doesn't have an air force. ...

Washington DC -- New America Foundation Schwartz Fellow and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs today on, "Afghanistan and Pakistan: Understanding a Complex Threat Environment."

The graphic to the right was published in The Washington Post's Outlook section on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009. Please click on the image to view a full-sized PDF version. The image is also available from www.washingtonpost.com.

In the months after 9/11, American forces in Afghanistan bombed the Taliban and, in vain, hunted for Osama bin Laden, while in Washington counterterrorism experts worried about "the next Afghanistan," a safe haven where terrorists would train, test their weapons and organize attacks on the United States. These discussions produced a double-barreled national-security strategy that dominated President George W. Bush's tenure. The first element of the strategy was to identify and eliminate terrorist networks that already existed. The

It is certain that as one of its first actions, President Barack Obama's administration will approve a military "surge" in Afghanistan come the spring. The question that needs to be decided is: a surge for what? On the answer will depend in large part the success or failure of the administration in the "war on terror" as a whole.