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Nawaz Offers Views on Changing Pakistani Perceptions of U.S.
Shuja Nawaz, Director of the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, was interviewed on The Takeaway morning radio news program on the Pakistan flood situation. The discussion focused on the U.S. being the single largest donor of aid, and the potential for Pakistanis to shift their perceptions of America. Nawaz insists that the U.S. should stay the course with aid to Pakistan, but warns of the long-term effects of America's goodwill, stating that "changing image takes a long time."
Nancy Walker Addresses U.S. Africa Command Conference
Dr. Nancy J. Walker, Director of the Ansari Africa Center, gave the keynote address at Africa Command’s Senior Leader Offsite Conference in Starnberg, Germany on August 26, 2010.
South Asia Center's Shikha Bhatnagar Spotlighted
Shikha Bhatnagar's recent appointment as Associate Director of the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council, is yet another manifestation of a growing trend of second generation Indian Americans' advent into leading Washington, DC think tanks as senior policy analysts and associates.
Chuck Hagel Discusses START Ratification on RussiaToday
Atlantic Council Chairman Chuck Hagel was interviewed for RussiaToday on delays in ratification of the START treaty in both the U.S. and Russia.
FEATURED ISSUE
In August the sunny calm and quiet that is a Swedish summer will be shattered by the impact of Joint Direct Attack Munitions dropped by F-16CM Fighting Falcons from US Air Force Europe.
Craddock: NATO Political Leadership AWOL
James Joyner | May 11, 2009
Supreme Allied Commander John Bantz Craddock told the Atlantic Council that "political leadership in NATO is AWOL" and that fixing the "imbalance" between an enormous strategic ambition and modest political will is vital for success in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
The general acknowledged Afghanistan as the most vital mission of the Alliance and stated that there are three strategic objectives: security and stability, good governance, and reconstruction and development. While NATO has a direct role in only the first, it has an indirect role in the other two. While acknowledging the constant refrain of "We don't do nation-building," he said that strengthening Afghan governing institutions was "the critical path" to operational success. He declared, "We can be perfect in securing the area but if government fails, we fail." While this is ultimately the responsibility of the Afghan leaders themselves, Craddock contends NATO has not done enough to help them along.
More fundamentally, the Alliance has not kept its promises. It has not come close to funding the objectives it set for itself in 2006, upon taking control of the mission, and it is clear that the domestic political interests of NATO member states have been paramount over Alliance goals — even though said goals were achieved through painstaking consensus building. Craddock understands that political leaders in democracies have to consider public opinion. At the same time, however, he said "It's the job of leaders to persuade the citizenry" on important foreign policy goals and that "often, this has not been the case."
Asked in the Q&A about today's replacement of David McKiernan with Stanley McChrystal as ISAF commander, he twice demurred, calling it a "U.S. decision" rather than a NATO one. He did allow that he was "informed but not consulted" on the decision.
James Joyner is managing editor of the Atlantic Council.
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