Azeem Ibrahim
Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
AP Photo
April 5, 2010
"There is Nothing to Discuss on the Falklands' Sovereignty"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"The fact that they are geographically closer to Argentina is of no consequence. Will the United States hand over Alaska to Russia which is famously visible from Sarah Palin's house as opposed to over 500 miles from the US mainland? Is the US going to give Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to the Dominican Republic? Are they going to give Hawaii to Japan? Texas and Florida to Mexico? Guam to the Philippines? American Samoa to New Zealand? What about Taiwan, should that be annexed by China?"
AP Photo
March 10, 2010
"Another Nail in the Coffin of the Special Relationship"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"Let us not forget the times when we needed US assistance and it was not forthcoming. Take the Americans' reluctance to impede IRA fundraising efforts in the US. A reluctance for thirty years, a period which saw the deaths of over eighteen hundred people, including 1100 members of the British Security Forces and 630 civilians. That is above and beyond the billions of pounds of damage their bombs did to UK mainland cities. Or the US invasion of Grenada, a former British colony and member of the Commonwealth after Reagan had assured Thatcher that no such incursion was planned. Or the US siding with Mexico, Peru and Brazil in trying to force the UK to the negotiating table when the Falkland Islands sovereign British territory had been invaded by Argentina. Or the subsequent refusal of US Secretary of State Alexander Haig to allow the UK to use an airfield on Ascension Island (UK territory) to refuel Vulcan bombers to bomb Argentinean runways in Port Stanley (UK territory)."
AP Photo
April 8, 2010
"Obama Must Tell It Like It Is On Afghanistan"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"Honesty is the least bad option for the Obama administration. He should address the concerns, and acknowledge that the deployment is not going as he had hoped. That way, he can begin to lay out the groundwork for how he is going to turn this around, and take the American people with him. Or, even better, how he is going to facilitate power-sharing with the least extreme Taliban, and bring American troops home, before the situation gets any worse."
AP Photo
March 13, 2010
"The Tumor at the Heart of Our Afghan Campaign"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"The actions of President Hamid Karzai are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from a man set on undermining Afghanistan's democracy and institutions, and concentrating power in his own hands."
AP Photo
March 10, 2010
"Another Nail in the Coffin of the Special Relationship"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"Let us not forget the times when we needed US assistance and it was not forthcoming. Take the Americans' reluctance to impede IRA fundraising efforts in the US. A reluctance for thirty years, a period which saw the deaths of over eighteen hundred people, including 1100 members of the British Security Forces and 630 civilians. That is above and beyond the billions of pounds of damage their bombs did to UK mainland cities. Or the US invasion of Grenada, a former British colony and member of the Commonwealth after Reagan had assured Thatcher that no such incursion was planned. Or the US siding with Mexico, Peru and Brazil in trying to force the UK to the negotiating table when the Falkland Islands sovereign British territory had been invaded by Argentina. Or the subsequent refusal of US Secretary of State Alexander Haig to allow the UK to use an airfield on Ascension Island (UK territory) to refuel Vulcan bombers to bomb Argentinean runways in Port Stanley (UK territory)."
AP Photo
February 12, 2010
"NATO's New Afghan Strategy Underlines the Necessity of Talking to the Taliban"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"The Taliban's often brutal form of conservative justice shocks the liberal sensibilities of the western electorates paying for the war. Bringing them into the political process will mean conceding that where, for example, young brides wed older men, NATO troops are not the right means to change those customs and attitudes."
AP Photo
December 9, 2009
"Afghanistan's Way Forward Must Include the Taliban"
Op-Ed, Los Angeles Times
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"President Obama, in spelling out the new U.S. strategy on Afghanistan this month, said that the United States will countenance dialogue with some elements of the Taliban....This is not as startling as it might seem, and it is vital to understand why it is so important. First, many Taliban fighters are simply peripheral Taliban militants. They joined the Taliban as a pragmatic opportunity for advancement in a country where most power comes from conservative Islam or guns. They typically fight close to the village where they live and grew up, and so lack the mobility of a true militia."
AP Photo
November 29, 2009
"Towering Dubai Was Sure to Topple"
Op-Ed, Sunday Herald
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"...Abu Dhabi is likely to at least help prevent Dubai from defaulting on its debt again. Over the next ten years or so, it is unlikely that Dubai will regain its record of unsteady unsupported growth. Rather, it is likely to grow at a slower but more sustainable rate. And maybe by the time the investors return in a few years time, the Government will have built some roads to those speculative skyscrapers now stranded in the sands of the Arabian desert."
AP Photo
Summer 2009
"Testing the NATO Alliance: Afghanistan and the Future of Cooperation"
Op-Ed, Harvard International Review, issue 2, volume 31
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"...[O]n the ground, Afghanistan does not look like a NATO mission, but a deployment of an ad hoc alliance. This impression is bolstered given that eight non-NATO countries are also contributing troops. This arrangement calls into question how genuine and useful the alliance will be in the future. It is no good to argue that NATO countries should share the burden more equally. That will not be enough to persuade skeptical governments to offer more troops. The truth is that the differences in deployment levels reflect real differences of public and political opinion. Unfortunately, there is no reason to expect that they should agree in the future either, as there is no longer agreement on what constitutes NATO's mission in Afghanistan."
AP Photo
August 11, 2009
"How America Is Funding Corruption in Pakistan"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"For the last eight years, U.S. taxpayers' money has funded hardly any bona fide counterterrorism successes, but quite a bit of corruption in the Pakistani Army and intelligence services. The money has enriched individuals at the expense of the proper functioning of the country's institutions. It has provided habitual kleptocrats with further incentives to skim off the top. Despite the U.S. goal of encouraging democratization, assistance to Pakistan has actually weakened the country's civilian government. And perhaps worst of all, it has hindered Pakistan's ability to fight terrorists."
