The international situation is becoming more and more marked by the repercussions of the US's war on terror. In spite of the criticism directed by the current administration in the US against the former one in this respect, and of its promises to change the way this issue is being dealt with, the facts on the ground remain more stubborn than wishes and declared intentions. Indeed, the battlegrounds of the fight against terrorism are, according to the US Administration, increasing in intensity and growing in size, in addition to opponents scoring points in confronting US power. At the same time, and as a result of such contradiction between intentions and wishes on the one hand, and the progress achieved by opponents on the other, the administration finds itself in a predicament regarding how to continue waging the battle, especially in the Afghan arena and its Pakistani extension. Such a predicament brings to mind its precedent in Iraq, which eventually led to an agreement to withdraw US troops from the country, knowing that it would be nearly impossible to repeat such an agreement in Afghanistan. Thus the United States finds itself fighting a war that seems almost vain. Had the repercussions of this battle been restricted to Afghanistan, the predicament would have been less of a burden, and the war in this country might have turned into its current counterpart in Somalia. But the battle in Afghanistan will determine the fate of the situation in nuclear Pakistan, the fate of Pakistan's relations with also nuclear India, the fate of the battle over the Iranian nuclear issue, as well as that of the US's international relations as a whole, especially with Russia and China. In that sense, Al-Qaeda, its counterpart the Taliban, and all the movements linked to them or inspired by their ideas have been able to impose a tough battle on the United States, and to place the administration before difficult choices, whether it goes on with a military battle, the results of which are not guaranteed, or heads towards withdrawal options, with all that this involves in terms of introducing major changes to US policy, and thus to the role of the United States in the world. Yet the challenge is not restricted to the United States alone, as a similar situation flickers on the horizon within the Arab region and in its neighborhood. Indeed, the confrontation is different in the Arab Maghreb and its African extension, and it continues in different forms, even it has become less of a direct threat to existing regimes. Nevertheless, its counterpart in Somalia continues to inflame the Horn of Africa, without any prospects of being contained, despite all forms of international intervention, and despite all forms of support for successive Somali governments in the face of Islamists. In fact, the predicament in Somalia, in the war on terror, is no lesser than the one ongoing in Afghanistan. This places Arab countries in the midst of such a war, especially that Somalia still uses Yemen as its gateway to the Arab Gulf. It is in such links that the current bloody confrontations in Yemen take their dimension with regard to the fight against terrorism. Much may be said about the failure of the Yemeni state and about the reasons behind internal resentment, from numerous parties, of the central government (one can notice this in all the places in which terrorism has taken root, and it is not exclusive to Yemen alone). Yet the nature of the confrontation flickering on the horizon in that country is no longer limited to merely obtaining concessions from the central government, but has begun to take on Afghan and Somali characteristics. In other words, it is turning into a battlefield and a rear base to move the fighting to neighboring regions. Indeed, just like Afghanistan, and its regions bordering Pakistan, represents the main element of the terrorist challenge for Islamabad, Yemen's borders are changing as government control is losing the element of threat for Yemen's neighborhood. And just as the fate of the battle in Afghanistan will determine the nature of the Pakistani state, the fate of Yemen's neighborhood is tied to the results of the current battle being fought by Sanaa. Obviously, the two battles in Afghanistan and Yemen are linked to each other and feed on each other. And as much as the Afghan confrontation presents challenges to the United States, the Yemeni confrontation presents its Arab neighborhood with similar challenges.
