U.S. Foreign Policy

The threat of terrorism to US security and international peace and stability did not begin with the September 11, 2001 attacks against the US and will not end when US troops leave Afghanistan.   How best to respond to terrorists has been a challenge to past Administrations, not just to Presidents Bush and Obama.  It has recently been reported that in addition to military means, the Obama Administration is engaged in some form of discussion with at least part of the Taliban leadership.  Negotiating with an enemy has always been a delicate diplomatic undertaking.  Ambassador Mitchell Reiss brings extensive experience to this issue in addition to his recent e-book, Negotiating with Evil.  As Director of the State Department's Policy Planning Office, he negotiated the Northern Ireland peace agreement and as the Director of the Korea Energy Development Organization he negotiated the implementation of the Framework Agreement with North Korea.

 

The war in Afghanistan has been going on for over a decade, but there is now an end in sight — at least for US forces.  President Obama has decided that all US troops will be withdrawn by the end of 2014.  As part of the drawdown, the US has committed to training the Afghan National Security Forces so that they will be able to assume all security responsibilities.  Furthermore, the administrative transition process is underway with 18 new areas recently turned over to Afghan governance.  Yet the Taliban continue to attack throughout Afghanistan, suggesting that regardless of US policy, war will continue.  Given this dynamic, what are our policy options?  Dr. Ashley Tellis brings to this issue his extensive experience as Senior Advisor to the US Ambassador in India, as Senior Director for Strategic Planning at the National Security Council, and as informal advisor to the Under Secretary of Political Affairs at the State Department.  

 

US foreign policy challenges with respect to nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and China come together in its relationship with Pakistan.  Few would have predicted that this state, which began improbably out of the ashes of British colonialism in 1947, would assume such importance.  But as the war in Afghanistan continues, Pakistan may play an important role either in prolonging the conflict or in achieving a peaceful resolution.  Beyond the war in Afghanistan Pakistan's continuing insecurities about India and its ambivalent approach to terrorism make it, in the words of former President Clinton, "the most dangerous place in the world."  Dr. Neil Joeck, currently a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley, recently completed two years as the National Intelligence Officer for South Asia, and also served as Director for Counterproliferation Strategy at the National Security Council and Member of the Policy Planning Staff at the State Department.

 

Preventing nuclear proliferation continues to be one of the biggest foreign policy challenges for the United States.  Iran is only the most recent country aspiring to develop nuclear weapons despite having signed the Treaty on the Prevention of Nuclear Proliferation.  Iran follows the example of North Korea, who formally withdrew from the treaty after acquiring the necessary technology for a bomb.  Libya was on the same path before shifting gears in the mid-2000s, while Pakistan, India, and Israel stayed out of the treaty and took their own paths to a nuclear arsenal.  Before serving as Dean of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and President of the MacArthur Foundation, Ambassador Robert Gallucci spent a storied career in the State Department addressing these challenges.