AP Photo

The failed attempt by the Nigerian bomber, Omar al-Farooq Abdulmutallab, to blow up Northwest flight 253 near Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day has suddenly brought into the limelight another important link in the chain of global terrorism. That of ill-governed Yemen. The country has been on the Obama administration’s radar since Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula emerged as a major threat. 

The fact that Yemen is now at the forefront of the United States’ counter-terrorism effort does not, however, mean the fight there is going to be easy. The country has always been one of the world’s least governed spaces with the problems made worse...