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The Lack of a Comprehensive Strategy, Not the Taliban, Is the Problem in Afghanistan
The launch of the large-scale Moshtarak military operation in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province on February 13, 2010, may look like further proof of America’s inconsistent policy in that country. Carnegie Moscow Center expert Peter Topychkanov, however, argues that Washington’s approach could at last be gaining some kind of logic. “Throughout 2009, people were waiting to see what the Obama administration’s Afghanistan policy would be. Last year, the White House seemed more to be jumping from one vision to another, from AfPak to the Pakistan Surge. In that context, the news that representatives of the Karzai government, the U.S., NATO, and the UN had met with Taliban representatives in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and the Maldives did not inspire much confidence. Newly revived military operations at the same time suggested that the U.S. and NATO were pursuing a contradictory policy, talking to the Taliban on the one hand and trying to destroy them on the other.”

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Year Two of the Reset: What Can the U.S. Expect from Moscow?
The U.S.-Russian relationship has notably improved since President Obama took office, and the process of the “reset” still continues. On January 21, 2010, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a discussion with the Carnegie Moscow Center director Dmitri Trenin, who analyzed some of the most crucial areas for the relationship for 2010.

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Blast in Pune Will Not Get in the Way of Mending Relations between India and Pakistan
The bomb blast in the Indian city of Pune and the media response show that there is still a lot of opposition in India to normalizing relations with Pakistan. But in the view of Carnegie Moscow Center expert Peter Topychkanov, the external situation leaves these opponents little chance of success. “Just when talks were set to resume between New Delhi and Islamabad, a bomb blast in the western Indian town of Pune killed 9 people and injured 57. The time and place of the explosion were not chosen by chance. What is significant is not even so much that the chosen target was a cafe popular among foreigners, but that Pune is a city where political organizations based on religious and nationalist platforms are strong. Following the blast, these organizations called for an end to preparations for resuming Indian-Pakistani talks.”

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Magomedsalam Magomedov Becomes President of Dagestan
Magomedsalam Magomedov, the new president of Dagestan in Russia’s North Caucasus, is a compromise figure selected to help calm the region, according to Carnegie Moscow Center expert Alexey Malashenko. “Magomedov follows the footsteps of his father, Magomedali Magomedov, first and foremost because he is likely to be reasonably well accepted by most people in Dagestan. And while future attempts to sack a few officials and mayors here and there will likely arouse local ire, they will probably not cause ripples on a republic-wide scale.”

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