The Anbar Solution to al Qaeda in Pashtunistan

Six months before the “American Surge” in Iraq…that escalation of troops in Baghdad that many credit for reducing violence in Iraq…Sunni tribal forces became the real reason for removing groups sympathetic to al Qaeda gangs from Anbar Province. There is a lesson here for defeating al Qaeda: support the local indigenous leaders to stabilize and strengthen their communities by defending themselves against al Qaeda gangs.

The United States and her allied countries would do well to recognize that they should make an alliance with indigenous nations…Pashtun communities where the Taliban and al Qaeda hide…and provide them financial, infrastructure and military support. They will clean out the cancer of al Qaeda.

This has all along been an essential truth. Indigenous nations will no longer provide a haven for al Qaeda or similar gangs if states’ governments like the United States, France, Germany and Britain take the deliberate step of recognizing the strategic role indigenous nations play in the present struggle. The “Anbar Solution” is more significant than most states’ government military and foreign policy leaders currently recognize. For a few pieces of silver, Pastu inside Afghanistan and Pakistan will become allies. It is an approach that has already demonstrated great success—more valuable than the “surge.”

(c) 2008 Center for World Indigenous Studies