Analysts: US Must Expand Its Counterterrorism Focus on Yemen
May 20, 2011
Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh (C) attends a rally held by pro-government supporters in Sana'a, May 13, 2011 (file photo)
As the brushfire of popular uprisings simmers in some areas of the Middle East, an already precarious situation in Yemen has become even more unstable.
Analysts say months of anti-government demonstrations have offered al-Qaida an opening in the fragile state torn by tribal allegiances, a rebellion in the north and a secessionist movement in the south.
On Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama urged his Yemeni counterpart, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to comply with demands to transfer power. But at the same time, Obama acknowledged that Saleh is a "friend" of America.
Without President Saleh's support over the years, analysts say Washington would have had a tough time going after members of the Yemeni-based group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Frederick Kagan is the director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
Kagan says the U.S. government now faces an even tougher sell convincing Yemenis who want political change that a fight against militants is critical to them.
"Al-Qaida is not the number one problem facing the Yemenis these days," explained Kagan. "And we're going to have to work on bringing interest together. And that means we're going to have to do things for the Yemenis that aren't directly related to killing al-Qaida."
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