Bruce Riedel Journalist Profile

Articles

Pakistan and the Soviet occupation

Aug 16, 2024 | thenews.com.pk | Bruce Riedel

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Zia asked General Akhtar, his ISI Chief, for an appraisal of the threat posed by the invasion. Akhtar predicted that sooner or later the Russians would invade Balochistan, seeking a warm-water port on the Arabian Sea. In his assessment, Pakistan was caught between the Russians to the west and India to the east and sooner or later they would join together to destroy Pakistan.
America and the Yemens: A Complex and Tragic Encounter

May 2, 2024 | wrmea.org | Election Year--All Senators |Bruce Riedel |Jack McGrath

All books featured in this new section are available from Middle East Books and More, the nation’s preeminent bookstore on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. www.MiddleEastBooks.com • (202) 939-6050 ext. 1 Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June/July 2024, pp. xx-xx Middle East Books Review By Bruce Riedel, Brookings Institution Press, 2023, hardcover, 75 pp.
Hezbollah and the Axis of Resistance in 2024

Jan 16, 2024 | brookings.edu | Bruce Riedel

Editor's note: This piece is part of a series titled “Nonstate armed actors and illicit economies in 2024” from Brookings’s Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors. Hezbollah, the Shia movement created more than forty years ago in Lebanon, is one of the most successful and heavily armed nonstate actors in recent history. With tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and backing from Iran, Hezbollah poses a serious threat to Israel.
Afghan jihad and Kashmir

Aug 16, 2023 | thenews.com.pk | Bruce Riedel

Tampa, Florida, is a long way from South Asia, but in mid-2011 I was there to attend a conference on Pakistan at the headquarters of the US Central Command as a guest of General David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan. I was to review Pakistan’s role in supporting the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. Only 25 years ago the United States had fought a war against the Soviets in Afghanistan with Pakistan’s help. President Ronald Reagan enjoyed Pakistan’s support and won the war.
Iraq 20 years later: The war’s legacy for Iraq, the Middle East, US policy, and beyond

Mar 9, 2023 | brookings.edu | Mallie Prytherch |Marsin Alshamary |Suzanne Maloney |Bruce Riedel

Twitter Join the conversation on Twitter using #Iraq2023 The year 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. The complex and controversial nearly nine-year military operation resulted in a devastating death toll, the destabilization of the country and the region, and a power vacuum that enabled the rise of the Islamic State.
Jimmy Carter’s forgotten crisis in Yemen

Mar 3, 2023 | brookings.edu | Bruce Riedel

James Carter is remembered as the president who faced the fall of the shah and the hostage crisis in Iran, very difficult challenges that many Americans felt he failed to handle effectively. This view ignores his many successes in foreign policy, including a much-forgotten crisis in Yemen where he defeated a Soviet-backed communist attempt to overthrow the pro-Western regime in the Arabian Peninsula.
The United States, China, and the “new non-aligned” countries

Feb 13, 2023 | brookings.edu | Madiha Afzal |Bruce Riedel |Natan Sachs

Executive SummaryIn his National Security Strategy, U.S. President Joe Biden outlined his view of global competition with China and the American desire to “work in lockstep with our allies and partners and with all those who share our interests.”1 But this desire for cooperation faces an obvious problem: Many countries would rather not choose sides, and they gain leverage from playing great powers off each other.
The Houthis after the Yemeni cease-fire

Jan 27, 2023 | brookings.edu | Bruce Riedel

In the almost decade-old civil war in Yemen, the adherence to a cease-fire that began in April 2022 by the Shiite Zaydi Houthi rebels suggests they are now prepared to live with a political outcome to the war that leaves them in control of most, but not all, Yemenis. The Houthis seem prepared to settle for less than complete control of the country. They are in no hurry to reach a deal, however, and the truce could easily break down and return Yemen and Saudi Arabia to combat during 2023.
How does the government’s classification system work?

Jan 23, 2023 | brookings.edu | Bruce Riedel

In light of the problems that have been encountered first by President Trump and now by President Biden over handling of classified documents, many are wondering about the system. This piece is an explanatory note on the classification system. The federal government has a fairly simple process for classifying documents. The originator of a document, usually a foreign policy or national security staff member, decides if it needs to be classified. In almost all cases this is a simple decision.