Weighing the pros and cons of bringing the Taliban to the table.

By Stefan Wolff

To be clear up front, what is at stake is not the exit of foreign troops from Afghanistan, but Afghanistan’s exit from its devastating civil war.  

Both exits, however, are inextricably connected in reality, even though much of the debate, especially in Western capitals, is predominantly focused on the former. Unsurprisingly thus, following the death of Osama Bin Laden, pressure has increased on the Obama administration and its key allies to commit to an accelerated withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan.

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Should a sense of security or fear follow in the wake Bin Laden’s death?

By Stefan Wolff

Now that the dust has somewhat settled after the initial euphoria, triumphalism, gloating and relief that followed Barack Obama’s announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden, more sober analysis is beginning of the broader implications of the end of a 15-year manhunt.

Perhaps foremost on people’s minds is the question whether this spells the end of al-Qaeda or even of international terrorism more generally. In the short-term, the answer is most certainly not. Not only is al-Qaeda’s terrorist network relatively independent, in operational terms, from hierarchical command and control structures but it is also difficult to imagine the organisation’s strategists and its followers – whether they are actually ‘connected’ or simply activists buying into al-Qaeda’s agenda – did not have some contingency plans in place for the post-Bin Laden period.

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