According to an American report published on Monday and compiled by Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Afghanistan for the US military and its NATO allies, the intelligence officials in this country "are ignorant of local economics and landowners, hazy about who the power brokers are and how they might be influenced, and disengaged from people in the best position to find answers." The report concluded that the US intelligence "is unable to find answers to essential questions about the climates under which the US forces and their allies operate… The US intelligence is marginally relevant to the overall strategy after eight years of the war in Afghanistan." This catastrophic conclusion of the work of the US intelligence in Afghanistan might not have taken into account the exceptional blow directed at the C.I.A there, and which lead to the death of seven of its officials, among whom are two senior ones. This blow was a result of a suicide bomb inside the Khost base, and which was later revealed to have been perpetrated by a Jordanian who works as a double-agent for the C.I.A and Taliban Movement. This is the situation of the US intelligence in Afghanistan, the forefront of the war on terrorism. But the situation of this intelligence is no less worse than the situation inside the United States itself. The attempt of the Nigerian national Omar al-Farouk Abed al-Matlab to detonate an airplane that was heading to Detroit revealed mistakes and lack of coordination and miscalculation on the side of various American apparatuses, especially since the Secretary of State and intelligence apparatuses had information about Abed al-Matlab. But they did not make any correlation to list his name among the suspects before the Secretary of State gave him a two-year visa. This is the American reality in dealing with terrorism. Although countless measures and exceptional powers were given to the US security apparatuses under the Neo-conservatives, they did not prevent any terrorist from carrying out an operation, or any attempts to carry out terrorist operations inside or outside the United States. These measures and powers did not also lead to any progress at the level of the war on terrorism worldwide. It is believed that any new measures in this regard, which Democrat President Barack Obama announced yesterday after his meeting yesterday with White House security officials, or any measures he would announce later, will not influence any potential terrorist threats. This is because all the techniques used now might hinder a terrorist from implementing his operation, but will not be able to prevent him. Moreover, deploying more forces on the battlefield might achieve a temporary victory, but it will not end the phenomenon. After all, every progress achieved by the security measures is accompanied by a counter-progress achieved by the terrorist groups. The terrorism practiced by Al-Qaeda and Taliban and their affiliated organizations in the world goes beyond any other form of terrorism throughout history. But history reveals that the forms of terrorism pertain to the political circumstances in the world, and we cannot annihilate terrorism unless by changing these circumstances, even though the security measures curb and hinder its actions. Just as the First World War marked the end of the chaotic terrorism that hit Europe at the end of the 19th century and the outset of the 20th century, the collapse of the Soviet Union marked the end of leftist terrorism. When the Neo-conservatives suggested changing the societies which they considered as appropriate ground for the emergence of terrorism, they perceived that introducing further tyrant measures and using absolute power are enough to defeat terrorism. But the result is known in the countries where this theory was implemented, starting from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, in addition to some African and Asian ones as well. This is exactly the kind of challenge that lies ahead of the administration of President Obama, who finds himself forced to address this issue that has international dimensions, after he spent his first year in office focusing on the economy and health insurance in his country. The core of this challenge is to work with the allies to make a major political breakthrough in the crises that the region suffers from, at the political, economic, and cultural levels, and which in turn make a change in the circumstances that rendered terrorism a means for political action.
