Obama takes a new approach to counter-terrorism
According to the Obama administration's top terrorism official, al-Qaeda is on the ropes:
'White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said al-Qaida is â??on a steady slideâ? after the death of al-Qaidaâ??s latest second-in-command in Pakistan.Brennan told The Associated Press on Wednesday that itâ??s a â??huge blowâ? in the first official White House comment since Atiyah Abd al-Rahmanâ??s reported killing by CIA drone strike in Pakistanâ??s tribal areas last week....
He described the counterterror relationship with Pakistan, Yemen and Iraq as models of how the U.S. will fight al-Qaida in the future â?? where the lionâ??s share of the hunting and fighting is done by the host nation. He said the U.S. was looking ahead to crafting a similar model in Afghanistan as U.S. troops draw down there, where as in Iraq and Yemen, small numbers of U.S. intelligence and special operations forces will work with their counterparts, providing training, equipment and sharing intelligence to track terror targets, and keep them under pressure.
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This is certainly preferable to armed state building on the scale conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan.