William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

648 Chapter 17 | Foreign Policy

One of the United States’ strategies to

increase stability in Afghanistan is to

train the Afghan National Army and

police in order to provide the Afghan

government a greater level of control

over the region.

Americans and their communications. American decision makers must also decide

whether they will overlook problems in other countries to pursue terror suspects. For

example, the government of Pakistan is routinely cited for human rights abuses, but

Pakistani officials have aided in the capture of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and have

allowed the United States to use Pakistani airspace to send drones into Iraq and Iran.

In sum, regardless of what happens in Syria, Afghanistan, and other areas where

ISIL and other terrorist organizations operate, the fight against global terrorism will

continue for the foreseeable future. It is easy to work backward from this conclusion to

a critique of past policies—to conclude, for example, that things would be better if the

United States had sent more troops or economic aid to Afghanistan, had not invaded

Iraq, or had refused to intervene in the Syrian civil war. However, because terror

attacks can come from many sources, because the fight against these organizations

touches on human rights concerns, and because it is not clear how to eliminate the

threat, there is no clear best strategy in the War on Terror. As a result, the threat from

terrorism, and the debate over how to respond, will persist.

Preventing the spread of WMDs: North Korea

The term “weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)” refers to nuclear bombs, chemical

weapons such as nerve gas, and biological weapons such as anthrax. Given the

potential for these weapons to inflict mass casualties, the United States has placed

a high priority on (1) limiting the number of nations that have these weapons and

(2) preventing terrorist organizations from obtaining or developing them. For example,

North Korea’s efforts to build and test a nuclear arsenal raise concerns that North Korea

might use the weapons against South Korea or even the United States or that terrorist

organizations could buy or steal the weapons to use themselves. (Similar concerns arise

for other nuclear powers, including Pakistan and other countries with nuclear weapons

research programs, such as Iran.)

The enduring problem for the United States is to determine how to respond to North

Korea’s nuclear capabilities. Military operations are problematic, as North Korea’s

weapons and the factories that manufacture them are buried deep underground and

may not be destroyed even by a massive attack. An unsuccessful attack might goad the

weapons of mass destruction

(WMDs)

Weapons that have the potential to

cause large-scale loss of life, such

as nuclear bombs and chemical or

biological weapons.

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