Articles

Tuesday, Apr 28, 2009 Pakistan isn’t falling

(CNN) — In the past few weeks as the Pakistani Taliban have marched ever closer to the capital, Islamabad, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sounded the alarm about the threat posed by the militants, who she said in congressional testimony pose “a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world.”

The militants said they took control of the Buner district to ensure that Islamic law, or sharia, is properly imposed. The Pakistani government called the advance into Buner a breach of a recently signed peace agreement.

“Both Pakistani politicians and the military don’t really have a strategy on how to deal with this,” CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen said on CNN’s “American Morning.” “The Taliban are exploiting this and the full economic situation in Pakistan to gain even larger swaths of territory.”

Saturday, Mar 28, 2009 Graveyard Myths

AS President Obama orders an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan, he faces growing skepticism over the United States’ prospects there. Critics of the troop buildup often point out that Afghanistan has long been the “graveyard of empires.” In 1842, the British lost a nasty war that ended when fierce tribesmen notoriously destroyed an army of thousands retreating from Kabul. And, of course, the Soviets spent almost a decade waging war in Afghanistan, only to give up ignominiously in 1989.

CNN National Security Analyst

Editor’s note: Peter Bergen is a fellow at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank that promotes innovative thought from across the ideological spectrum, and at New York University’s Center on Law and Security. He’s the author of “The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader.”

CNN National Security Analyst

Editor’s note: Peter Bergen is a fellow at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank that promotes innovative thought from across the ideological spectrum and at New York University’s Center on Law and Security. He’s the author of “The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader.”

Schwartz senior fellow at the New America Foundation; research fellow at New York University’s Center on Law and Security; CNN’s national security analyst; adjunct professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 Obama’s War

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/outlook/interactives/afpak/afpak.pdf

Saturday, Jan 24, 2009 The worst of the worst?

Ken Ballen, Terror Free Tomorrow Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Expert Controversy over the Bush Administration’s policy to detain “enemy combatants” at the military’s Guantanamo Bay prison has raged since the facility first opened in 2002. The controversy has been fueled primarily by the lack of legal protections afforded the detainees and allegations of their […]

Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009 Obama and Iraq

updated 3:09 p.m. EST, Wed January 21, 2009 Commentary: How to get out of Iraq carefully STORY HIGHLIGHTS Peter Bergen: Obama needs to take steps to make sure Iraq stays stable As U.S. withdraws troops, it needs to jumpstart the economy, Bergen says He says U.S. should restrain the Kurds and Israelis from destabilizing moves […]

Wednesday, Jan 14, 2009 Why bin Laden is Speaking Out

The new 22-minute tape posted Wednesday on a radical Islamist Web site is the first one from Osama bin Laden in nine months. On it, the al Qaeda leader urges Muslims to wage jihad against Israel because of its offensive in Gaz