WASHINGTON -- Twenty-seven leading foreign
policy experts have sent a letter to President Obama, calling for a broader
approach on US policy towards Yemen that “expands beyond the narrow lens of
counterterrorism.” As US intelligence agencies point to the rise of Al Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) activity making Yemen the next front in
counterterrorism, the letter, signed by diplomats, security specialists,
scholars, and US policy experts, argues that current US policy is
short-sighted. It strongly urges for better policy that still serves America’s
national interests by decreasing extremism and combating security threats in
the region, but through a comprehensive, long-term approach that addresses
Yemen’s social, economic, and political challenges.
The five-page letter, argues that current US counterterrorism
policy toward Yemen “does not address the underlying causes that have propelled
such [militant] forces to find fertile ground in Yemen” and that US public
diplomacy only reinforces such perceptions: “Although the Department of State,
USAID, and others have invested millions in development and governance
projects, the perception both in the US and in Yemen is that we are singularly
focused on AQAP. Yemenis need to know that their country is more than a proxy battleground
and that our long-term commitment to the stability, development, and legitimacy
of the country matches our more immediate and urgent commitment to the defeat
of AQAP.”
Among the letter’s recommendations, the
experts call for the US Administration to:
- Change the primary face of the US
government in Yemen to alter the perception that US interest and attention
are solely dominated by counterterrorism and security issues.
- Reevaluate the strategy of drone
strikes with the recognition that it is generating significant
anti-American sentiment.
- Work with Friends of Yemen to provide
humanitarian aid for the more than 10 million Yemenis going hungry daily.
- Increase economic and governance aid
to support democratic institution-building, so that it represents a
greater proportion of overall assistance compared with military assistance
- Support the restructuring of Yemeni
security towards a unified command hierarchy under Yemeni civilian
leadership.
The bipartisan letter includes signatories
from a range of backgrounds including Andrew Natsios, former
Administrator of USAID; Emile Nakhleh, former Director of the CIA's
Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program; David Kramer of
Freedom House; Steven Heydemann of Georgetown University; and Andrew
Exum of the Center for New American Security.
This letter to President Obama was
coordinated by the Yemen Policy Initiative, a new collaborative effort of the
Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council and the Project on
Middle East Democracy (POMED), which seeks to advance a more sustainable,
long-term US policy that guarantees US national security interests and supports
Yemen’s political transition.
Yemen Policy Initiative Letter to Obama 6-25-12
Yemen Policy Initiative Letter to Obama 6-25-12
