Inside Story

Rethinking the war in Afghanistan

With the US due to review its progress in Afghanistan, how will the IISS report impact future strategy in the country?

A new report by the London-based International Insititute for the Strategic Studies (IISS) concludes that the threat posed by al-Qaeda and Taliban is exaggerated and that the strategy in Afghanistan has “ballooned” out of proportion from the original aim of preventing attacks by al-Qaeda.

In addition, it says the strategy is too ambitious, too removed from the core security goals that need to be met, and too sapping of diplomatic and military energies needed both in the region and elsewhere.

That comes as the US is due to review its strategy in this country.
 
So, would this kind of report have any influence at all on decision making on Afghanistan? With the US due to review its own progress at the end of the year, how will this impact future strategy in Afghanistan?

Joining the programme are Steve Clemons, the director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, Richard Weitz, the director of the Centre for Political-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute, and Phil Rees, an Afghanistan expert and the author of Dining with Terrorists.

This episode of Inside Story aired from September 9, 2010.