Zalmay Khalilzad

Strategic appraisal: the changing role of information in warfare

Advanced information technologies will have a profound effect on our national security. Driven by the need to understand this revolution and to take steps towards defending against information attack, the editors provided this thorough examination of information warfare, with implications for the U.S. and other countries.

Afghanistan: The Consolidation of a Rogue State

It is imperative that the United States initiate a proactive offensive on the Taliban, whose agenda presents a significant threat to our national security and moral leadership. By aiding the Talibans victims, supporting moderate Afghans, and elevating the importance of Afghanistan at home, the United States can implement a policy that will prevent this group from further consolidating its power and asserting itself as an uncontrollable rogue state.

Strategic Appraisal 1996.

Abstract : The Western victory in the Cold War has left the United States as the worlds preeminent power. At the moment, it faces no global rival and no significant hostile alliance that might threaten its security or vital interests. Despite a decline in its relative economic power, the United States still has the worlds largest economy. Moreover, the United States possesses military predominance, and American political and economic ideas have broad global appeal. Almost all of the economically capable nations are our allies. In modern times no single nation has held a position as preeminent as that of the United States today. At the same time, with the end of the Cold War, there has been an increase in disorder as a result of the rise in ethnic nationalism and the fragmentation of several states. Among the Cold War allies, there is intense economic competition, and managing alliance relations has become more difficult in the absence of a powerful common enemy. Several powers are opposed to the new international configuration. Some of these are rogue states, such as North Korea, Iran, and Iraq. But some major powers, such as Russia and China, are also dissatisfied with the status quo.

A Strategy of “Congagement” toward Pakistan

As Pakistan undertakes a comprehensive review of its relationship with the United States, the United States should similarly review its approach to Pakistan. In the ten years since the 9/11 attacks, the key threat in South Asia has been the nexus between the Pakistani military as well as security services and the syndicate of violent extremist groups al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and other insurgents operating against the United States, Afghanistan, and India. During the Bush and Obama administrations, the United States has sought to induce Pakistani leaders to break with these groups. While Pakistan has cooperated to a degree against some of them, the U.S. strategy has failed to transform Pakistan’s behavior. For much of the past decade, an assumption of U.S. policy has been that Pakistan is an ally, or at least that it can become one through sufficient U.S. engagement. The notion stemmed both from Islamabad’s official assurances and the tangible but limited support that Pakistan provided for some U.S. objectives (e.g., permitting U.S. use of supply lines into Afghanistan, allowing coalition use of Pakistani air space for air operations into Afghanistan, and targeting al-Qaeda operatives). Yet, it is now clear that Pakistan’s posture has been at best mixed, at once supporting and undermining U.S. interests on counterterrorism and Afghanistan. The revelation that Osama bin Laden was sheltering in a