The West’s capacity to tackle terrorism in Afghanistan without ground forces will be “clumsy and much less effective” from now on, a former US deputy national security adviser said.
Prof Meghan O’Sullivan said the war on terror, that kicked off in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, will remain “part of the landscape” for the years.
Prof O'Sullivan spoke at a Chatham House forum on two decades since the September 11 attacks as Ken McCallum, director general of Britain's MI5, said there was “no doubt” that events in Afghanistan will have “heartened and emboldened” extremists and predicted a return of “Al Qaeda-style” terrorist plots.
Mr McCallum said that although the government has pledged to judge the Taliban by their actions, security forces will plan for the possibility that “more risk, progressively, may flow our way”.
Like all western security agencies, MI5 is grappling with how can it deter terrorists without infringing on civil liberties.
Prof O’Sullivan, who advised former US president George W Bush on the security of Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2007, drew a parallel between the fight against terrorism and the battle with the coronavirus.
She said “not having intelligence on the ground, not having close partnerships with indigenous forces on the ground is going to mean that our counterterrorism approach is going to be much more clumsy, it’s going to be probably less effective”.
The new approach would carry even more baggage than having a presence in the country, she said.
Looking back on the 9/11 attacks before the 20th anniversary on Saturday, Prof O’Sullivan said that after the Twin Towers collapsed many experts predicted “an age of terror” would follow.
However, she said the threat of terrorism was miscalculated by many and the years that followed were not marked by constant attacks.
As the US reeled from the disaster, she said the country’s energy was absorbed by four main areas over the following years.
These comprised the war in Iraq, the conflict in Afghanistan, the reorganisation of military, intelligence and law enforcement both domestically and internationally, and counterterrorism co-operation, the latter of which became a focal point of bilateral co-operation around the world.
Dr John Sawers, who was chief of MI6 from 2009 to 2014, said western leaders today have more on their plate than merely tackling the threat of terrorism, and said the current terrorist threat is “not an existential challenge to western democracy”.
Now, he said, the priorities for leaders in the US and other western nations are broadening to include managing the threat from Russia, tackling the climate crisis, addressing the rise of China and preventing nuclear war.
But he said the combination of Islamic extremism and right-wing terrorism would be “continuing challenges” for western leaders and that the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan had inspired terrorists.
Hina Rabbani Khar, former Pakistani minister of foreign affairs, was critical of much of the West’s approach to countering extremism and terrorism in Afghanistan, saying leaders were guilty of making “massive tactical errors and massive strategic errors” there.
She said the wider region is home to a new wave of terrorist groups, which are arguably more dangerous than those 20 years ago, and used ISIS as an example.
Ms Khar said the US and coalition forces invading Afghanistan after 9/11 could be perceived as akin to a “call for revenge rather than a realistic assessment of what can be achieved” in terms of making the country safer.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
In numbers
- Number of children under five will fall from 681 million in 2017 to 401m in 2100
- Over-80s will rise from 141m in 2017 to 866m in 2100
- Nigeria will become the world’s second most populous country with 791m by 2100, behind India
- China will fall dramatically from a peak of 2.4 billion in 2024 to 732 million by 2100
- an average of 2.1 children per woman is required to sustain population growth
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Black Panther
Dir: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o
Five stars
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Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
RESULT
Norway 1 Spain 1
Norway: King (90 4')
Spain: Niguez (47')
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EXPATS
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
