Al Qaeda and its affiliate terror outfits have suddenly branched out to newer territories like Yemen and Somalia while the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are yet to be concluded.Worst still, it is adapting to more complicated networks and sophisticated ways of operation that appear beyond the grasp of coordinated intelligence sharing at international level of US and its allied countries. Now a Nigerian national Mr Abdulmutallab ,who recently turned a terrorist, was able to procure explosives from Yemen and evade security, screening and intelligence monitoring while traveling through Ethiopia,Ghana and Nigeria to Schiphal airport in Amsterdam and boarded flight no 253 to Detroit on Christmas day now stuns the whole world.This despite the fact that father of the accused intimated the fact of his becoming a terrorist to the Nigerian Authorities and the American embassy in Abuja.The intended terrorist blast was however averted by luck.Obama thus bluntly said “That’s not acceptable and I will not tolerate it.”
Located at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula,Yemen is a poor muslim country with a weak central government, armed tribal groups in outlying areas and porous borders.Besides the central government is currently struggling to contain an uprising by Shia Houthi rebels in the north and a secessionist movement in the south.It therefore provided an ideal location for the fresh growth of Al Qaeda organization and its network,whose presence is otherwise considered to be quite old.Yemenis affiliated with Al Qaeda were responsible for October 2000 bombing of the navy destroyer US.S.Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden.Now Gorden Brown the British Prime Minister is holding a meeting in London on January 28, to discuss ways to counter this radicalization in Yemen.
Clearly the two wars in Afghanistan,Iraq fought after 9/11 as part of the “war on terror”, to promote democratic regimes for economic betterment of the people failed to obtain the desired results.The outcome of these two lengthy wars appears uncertain as to how it will actually transform this region.And the US has squandered its resources heavily.Resorting to military means for regime change has mostly proved counter productive .Military minds and war commanders have seldom been able to judge the consequences of war.Wisdom ordains adopting such approaches that should bring in concord and harmony .Such an approach is available even in the midst of wars or wars like situation.
One such idea has recently been floated by British Foreign secretary Miliband .According to him Afghanistan is keen on having regional forum comprising India, Iran, Pakistan and Russia in place before June 2011,the proposed time frame for US and NATO troops to start reducing presence in that country.
Such multilateral concepts of spreading peace in different regions should be seriously considered and implemented to overcome the scourge of terrorism. In order to contain the terrorism in Yemen a regional approach that may look after the economic interests of Yemen and other neighbouring countries may prove more useful in dealing with the Al Qaeda problem.The US has now increased its counter –terrorism aid to Yemen in an intensified campaign to uproot Al-Qaeda’s offshoot in this country.Yemen however opposes any direct intervention by US or other foreign troops in the fight against al-Qaeda with their Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi saying “ I’m sure that their experiences in Iraq,Afghanistan and Pakistan will be very useful to learn from -----that direct intervention complicates things”.
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