Gates: Extremist threat requires new approaches

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Gates: Extremist threat requires new approaches
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Oct 17, 2008 10:52:03 EDT

WASHINGTON — The United States and its allies must find new approaches — and create new institutions — to deal with the long-term threats posed by violent extremism, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

In a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Gates said the security of the American people will depend increasingly on an ability to head off the next insurgency or stop the collapse of another failing state. He focused specifically on Afghanistan, but nuclear-armed Pakistan also is at or near the top of the Bush administration’s list of countries in danger of falling victim to internal chaos.

Gates stressed that this effort is about much more than flexing U.S. military muscle.

“Our own national security toolbox must be well-equipped with more than just hammers,” he said.

In Afghanistan, where a U.S. force of about 33,000 troops and a NATO-led force of similar size is fighting a revitalized Taliban insurgency, the international community needs to work more closely together, Gates said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/10/ap_gates_101508/%2e