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• Daily News Brief

  October 19, 2009

  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  -Obama administration awaits Afghan election results.
  -Suicide attacks target Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
  -Pakistan launches major offensive in South Waziristan.
  -Gordon Brown calls for climate action.

   

   

  Top of the Agenda: Afghan Elections Affecting U.S. Policy

  The Obama administration signaled it may wait (NYT) until the results of the Afghan elections are finalized to make a decision as to whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan.

  On CNN's State of the Union, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said the United States wants assurance that it will have a "credible Afghan partner for this process that can provide the security and the type of services that the Afghan people need."

  Separately, the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, investigating electoral fraud allegations in Afghanistan, will release its findings (VOA) Monday. The commission could reject enough fraudulent ballots so that incumbent President Hamid Karzai's vote count drops below 50 percent, which could force a runoff with opponent Abdullah Abdullah.

  Analysis

  The coordinator of President Obama's original Afghan policy, Bruce Riedel, says the Taliban and al-Qaeda maintain a lethal alliance that U.S.-led forces must defeat in Afghanistan.

  Background

  The New York Times looks at the U.S. struggle to cut off the Taliban's financial support network, and notes that in recent months foreign donations have been the largest source of funding for the Taliban, not opium.

  The Washington Post reports on an increase in training of Western terror recruits in camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan, despite targeted U.S. strikes.

   

   

  MIDEAST: Attacks on Iran

  More than forty people, including at least five commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, were killed in two coordinated suicide attacks (NYT) at a gathering of tribal leaders in a southeastern province of Iran. Pakistani terrorist group Jundullah took responsibility (PRESS TV) for the attack.

  Iraq: A bomb on a motorcycle killed five people (AP) and injured sixteen in the largely Sunni Azamiyah district of Baghdad. The recent violence will likely be a discussion topic when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on Monday in Washington.

   

   

  PACIFIC RIM: North Korean Aid

  A South Korean official said the country will not provide (Yonhap) any significant aid to North Korea, despite Pyongyang's request for humanitarian assistance. North Korea, which faces rampant poverty, presented the request during talks over cross-border family reunions last week.

  China: China will launch its Nasdaq-style Growth Enterprise Market (WSJ) on October 23, according to China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Shang Fulin. An initial twenty-eight companies will begin trading a week later.

  CFR's Steve Dunaway says China must implement reforms to its economic model and rule of law.

   

   

  SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: Pakistani Offensive

  The Pakistani military launched an offensive (WSJ) in the South Waziristan tribal area, a Taliban stronghold. Some thirty thousand Pakistani troops are moving into the area, where they face an estimated ten thousand insurgents.

  A CFR Backgrounder looks at Pakistan's security forces.

  India: New Delhi offered Sri Lanka $100 million (Daily Times) to help refugees from the country's drawn out civil war as they return home, and to help rebuild the country's ravaged north, as India seeks to engage in the island nation's post-war reconstruction and maintain its influence.

   

   

  AFRICA: Aid Workers Freed

  Two aid workers abducted last July in Darfur have been freed (Sudan Tribune), the Sudanese government announced. Six armed men kidnapped the women, who were working with GOAL, an Irish humanitarian organization.

  Guinea: Guinean military leader Moussa Dadis Camara delayed an announcement on whether he will be a candidate in next year's presidential election, thereby missing an African Union deadline (BBC) to promise he would not participate. Camara took power last year in a coup, but promised to cede power to civilians after the scheduled January 2010 election.

   

   

  AMERICAS: Migrant Ship Intercepted

  Canada intercepted a ship (Vancouver Sun) carrying seventy-six suspected illegal migrants off the country's Pacific coast. The migrants, believed to have come from Sri Lanka, were sent to Vancouver for processing.

  Brazil: The Brazilian government promised the 2016 Olympics will be secure, after fourteen people were killed (CSMonitor) in Rio over the weekend. Among the dead are two policemen, who were killed when drug gangs brought down their helicopter.

   

   

  EUROPE: Brown's Warning on Climate

  UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned today that that the world will face "catastrophic" consequences unless world governments make faster progress (Guardian) on climate change negotiations ahead of an international conference on the issue in Copenhagen in December. Brown spoke before a meeting of environment ministers from seventeen countries at the Major Economies Forum.

  Finland: Finland has become the first country to guarantee access to broadband Internet as a legal right, NPR reports. Beginning in July 2010, everyone in the country will have the right to an Internet connection of at least one megabit per second.

   

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  New Books

  Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.

  

  In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.

  In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.

  Complete list of CFR Books

  New Independent Task Force Reports

  
  

  U.S. Immigration Policy

  The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.

  U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy

  This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

  About Independent Task Forces at CFR

  Complete list of Task Force reports

  New Council Special Reports

  
  

  Enhancing U.S. Preventive Action

  Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.

  The United States in the New Asia

  For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.

  Complete list of Council Special Reports

  

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