Gareth Evans, a former Australian foreign minister and the president of the International Crisis Group, said Washington must encourage Islamic governments to control extremists, must stay engaged in crises around the world and must deal “with the social and cultural and economic discontent” that fuels anti-Americanism in the Middle East.
All these imperatives “didn’t feature at all in the president’s speech [Thursday] night,” Evans told the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. “But in the judgment of a great many of America’s friends and allies abroad … they need to feature” if these allies are going to support the administration in its war on terrorism.
Evans’ group exists to help governments deal with crises, from Macedonia to Zimbabwe, through analyses of causes and advocacy of solutions. Originally scheduled to speak to the Council on Foreign Relations on his group’s work, he focused instead on the U.S. reaction to the terrorist attacks last week.
Evans praised that reaction so far as “gritty, determined, measured and . . . multilateral.” But he warned that the U.S. military response must be based on strong evidence “or the support of friends and allies will fall away.” And the response must avoid heavy civilian casualties or “you just create a whole new generation of fanatics.”
But beyond this military response, Evans said, the United States must “build the capacity and above all the will” for Islamic governments to deal with terrorist groups, simply because these governments are best-placed to do the job.
“The CIA, FBI and the U.S. military can never be as good as the Taliban in dealing with Osama bin Laden, or as the Syrian government in dealing with the Hezbollah,” he said.
But many of these governments are “only too happy to crack down on dissent of any kind,” which only creates new extremists, he said.
The solution, he said, is “to create environments in the countries in question in which there is more community support for cracking down on terrorism.”
This, in turn, means “addressing the policy issues that we know generate grievance, and the social and economic conditions that we know generate despair.”
Part of this, he said, means rethinking contentious policies, such as the Israeli-Palestinian peace process or the stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. But more important, he said, is the need for the United States to stay engaged in crises around the globe.
“What seem so often to be dirty little wars in faraway places are America’s business and the business of the whole international community, simply because their impact so often reaches globally,” Evans said. “What America’s friends and allies want more than ever now is for the U.S. to play that role–and not disengage.”
Finally, he said, the West needs to address the legitimate problems created by modernization and globalization, without undermining their benefits.
“Part of the response must be to try to gradually diminish the envy and sense of both absolute and comparative economic disadvantage that are significant parts of the problem–to make a sustained effort to improve social conditions, reduce disparities of wealth, create more and more economic opportunity, and above all to create more and more educational opportunity,” he said.
More Top Picks Best Blue Light Glasses For Gaming