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Kazakhstan and the United States: Twenty Years of Ambiguous Partnership
The Five Futures of Cyber Conflict and Cooperation
US Lessons for the Eurozone Restoring Confidence through Transparency
Prospects and Challenges for Increasing India-Pakistan Trade
A US-EU Action Plan for Supporting Democratization: Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia
Council News
Jonathan Paris Discusses Syrian Crisis with France 24
Jonathan Paris, nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, appeared on France 24 to discuss Russia's support for the Assad regime and what it means for a possible UN resolution against Syria.
Damon Wilson US Senate Testimony: Ukraine at a Crossroads
On February 1, Atlantic Council executive vice president Damon Wilson testified at a hearing of the US Senate Committe on Foreign Relations on the topic: "Ukraine at a Crossroads: What's at Stake for the US and Europe?"
Michele Dunne on US-Egypt Relations for NPR's Morning Edition
Relations between the US and Egypt have taken a downturn since Egyptian authorities raided the offices of seventeen nongovernmental organizations in December - three of them US-funded. Michele Dunne, director of the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, spoke on NPR's Morning Edition about the situation and what it means for US aid to Egypt.
FEATURED ISSUE
The South Asia Center receives guidance and support from many experts throughout the world. Our senior fellows, guest-speakers, Center patrons, and visitors contribute heavily to the Center’s mission to “wage peace,” and engage the international community in the region. The Center asked our contributors the simple, but key question, “What you do expect in 2012?”
REGISTER
UK Commander in Afghanistan Believes Compromise Must be Reached with Taliban
Peter Cassata | October 06, 2008Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the commander of UK troops in Afghanistan, indicated in an interview with the Times that a political solution with the Taliban was needed for victory in Afghanistan. He stressed that while the Taliban is very fractured, it is still resilient as an organization even in the face of major losses. Afghanistan's government has enacted a reconciliation program for Taliban members, but hardcore activists are opposed to any negotiations.
According to the Financial Times, he stated, "We are not going to win this war. It’s about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that’s not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army." However, the U.S. remains hesitant about talking to the Taliban. "It remains to be seen if some in the Taliban will really renounce violence and extremism and play a constructive role in Afghanistan," White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
Carleton-Smith's comments follow the recent leak of a French memo that claimed the UK's ambassador to Afghanistan believes winning the war there is impossible.
