Al-Qaida and Taliban threat is exaggerated, says security thinktank

Of course the thoughtful gentlemen at the IISS make one assumption I have had to give up a long time ago, that the War on Terror actually has as a goal stopping the threat of terrorism.


From The Guardian


Strategy institute challenges idea that troops are needed in Afghanistan to stop export of terrorism to west


The threat posed by al-Qaida and the Taliban is exaggerated and the western-led counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan risks becoming a "long, drawn-out disaster", one of the world's leading security thinktanks warned today.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the west's counter-insurgency strategy has "ballooned" out of proportion to the original aim of preventing al-Qaida from mounting terrorist attacks there, and must be replaced by a less ambitious but more sensible policy of "containment and deterrence".

The critique of the US- and British-backed military policy is contained in the latest strategic survey from the IISS, a respected but usually uncontroversial body. IISS officers made clear today they have departed from their normal practice because of the serious threat to the west's security interests in pursuing the current Afghan strategy...