How Important Are Terrorist Safe Havens?

Former CIA official Paul Pillar says not so much:

Consider: The preparations most important to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks took place not in training camps in Afghanistan but, rather, in apartments in Germany, hotel rooms in Spain and flight schools in the United States.

In the past couple of decades, international terrorist groups have thrived by exploiting globalization and information technology, which has lessened their dependence on physical havens.

By utilizing networks such as the Internet, terrorists' organizations have become more network-like, not beholden to any one headquarters. A significant jihadist terrorist threat to the United States persists, but that does not mean it will consist of attacks instigated and commanded from a South Asian haven, or that it will require a haven at all. Al-Qaeda's role in that threat is now less one of commander than of ideological lodestar, and for that role a haven is almost meaningless.

Much of the debate in Afghanistan gets caught up in a false choice: that we either engage in a costly nation building experiment in Afghanistan or surrender to the emergence of al Qaeda "safe havens." Everyone agrees that safe havens are bad and that the U.S. should make eliminating them a top priority. But that doesn't lead directly to the conclusion that we should therefore rebuild Afghanistan.

And if we're truly worried about safe havens, what about this:

Jaish-e-Mohammad ("army of Mohammad"), which is linked to a series of atrocities including an attack on the Indian parliament and the beheading of the American journalist Daniel Pearl, has walled off a 4.5 acre compound just outside the town of Bahawalpur.

Pakistani authorities have turned a blind eye to the new base, in the far south of Punjab province, even though it is believed to have been built to serve as a radical madrassah - Islamic school - or some kind of training camp.

To the extent that Pakistan "turns a blind eye" to massive Islamist compounds being built on their soil, no amount of nation building in Afghanistan is going to protect America.

(AP Photos)