It's probably unusual to link to a report by the RAND Corporation and an op-ed on Foxnews.com in the same blog, but since both address the same subject -- tackling al Qaeda in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region -- here goes.
The first is a detailed report by RAND called "How Terrorist Groups End".
Its analysis of 648 groups that existed between 1968 and 2006 concludes that "military force has rarely been the primary reason for the end of terrorist groups, and few groups within this time frame have achieved victory." Calling for a rethink of U.S. strategy, it argues that policing and intelligence, rather than military force, should form the backbone of U.S. efforts against al Qaeda." |