Strategic Paradigms by Ehsan Ahrari

The administration of President Barack Obama is near fixated about not getting stuck in Afghanistan—the well-known “graveyard of empires.” That may be one reason why he is so persistent about not getting involved in the long-term process of nation-building, which is also full of too many hidden landmines. That is why he is so persistent [...]

In my lectures and speeches all over the world on the issue of transnational terrorism, I used to proudly point out that American Muslims are immune to any contagious influence by al-Qaida or any other terrorist group. I had many reasons for saying so, but the foremost of which was the fact that American Muslims [...]

The Obama administration is entering a crucial phase of its existence. President Barack Obama is about to determine his new strategy governing the Afghan war. He has a lot at stake because wars have a bizarre way of making heroes and villains out of presidents and prime ministers.

As President Barack H. Obama is edging toward making up his mind about accepting, partially accepting, or not accepting General Stanley McChrystal’s advice to insert more troops in Afghanistan, I hear an abundance of metaphors flying.  One metaphor was used by the candidate Obama himself during the presidential campaign, when he described starting the war [...]

Pakistan’s newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari’s speech to the parliament on September 20, 2008 is the continuation of an old balancing act.  However, there are certain differences and similarities between the actions taken by his predecessor, General Pervez Musharraf, in the post-9/11 era, and the one taken by the current government.  But the implications [...]