McChrystal: Terrorism Is a Governance Problem « The Washington Independent
Jul 31, 2020335 Shares335.3K Views
Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) engaged Gen. McChrystal in a good colloquy about the necessity of eliminating safe havens for al-Qaeda in Pakistan, one of the strongest arguments of war critics. What’s to stop the terrorists from just going to places like Yemen or Somalia?
McChrystal, who headed the hunt for individual terrorists in his old Joint Special Operations Command job, observed that “terrorists and insurgents do best in undergoverned and ungoverned areas,” prompting his strategy of hardening areas to insurgent groups through stronger Afghan governance and other direct means to meeting Afghans’ material needs. “Outside Afghanistan, the same applies. We see terrorists move to places like Somalia and Yemen,” he continued. “Our best bet is to partner with those governments” to bolster that governance, aided in some cases by “precision strikes” on individual terrorists as necessary and appropriate.
“There’s no single answer,” McChrystal said. “It’s security, governance, development, precision strikes.” But Klein still wondered about what to do in the event of terrorist dispersal. “The best way is very extensive intelligence sharing with our partners and then following them,” McChrystal said. “It’s like following a criminal gang around.” What? Comparing terrorists to criminals? Call Fox News!
Hajra Shannon
Reviewer
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