Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to end the six-year war in Yemen by dialing down military interventions and returning to diplomacy. Strange as it may seem, the Saudis’ current strategy is not that different.
While recent U.S. drone strikes in Yemen have been successful, Washington can’t rely on a remote control to defeat terrorism. Improving governance and the lives of Yemenis will do more to reduce violence than drones ever will.
The sooner Yemen can move past the current political crisis, the sooner its serious challenges of poor governance, unemployment, resource depletion, and a collapsing economy can be tackled.
Ten years ago, the USS Cole was bombed off the coast of Yemen. Since then, the situation in Yemen has deteriorated. Washington must take a balanced approach and rely on both short-term counterterrorism operations and long-term development assistance.
The violence and insecurity in Somalia has spread beyond its borders through piracy, arms deals, human trafficking, and terrorism, and Washington lacks good policy options to confront this growing global threat.
President Obama’s self-imposed deadline for closing the U.S. military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay has passed. It may take years to fully close the facility because the real problem is not only Guantanamo, but the entire U.S. detention policy.
War, terrorism, a deepening secessionist movement, and interconnected economic and demographic trends threaten to overwhelm the Yemeni government, provide a breeding ground for terrorists, and destabilize the region.