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Top of the Agenda: World Leaders Meet on Yemen

The United States and twenty other countries are gathering (NYT) today at a conference in London to address Yemen's growing instability, as reports surface about heavy U.S. involvement in Yemeni strikes against al-Qaeda. The conference's aim is to address the poverty, inequities, and domestic tensions that help breed radicalism in Yemen. But participants at the conference--which comes a month after the failed Christmas Day airplane bomb plot that highlighted Yemen's al-Qaeda problem--are likely to face social, political, and logistical constraints in expanding the fight against al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Some analysts and diplomats say EMPEORAR LA SITUACIÓN? a rush of aid and attention could worsen the system of patronage that fuels extremism in Yemen and that there is plenty of unspent aid money there already. The conference will also seek support from Yemen's immediate neighbors such as Saudi Arabia LA ADULADA, LA INTOCABLE to open their labor markets and make future aid conditional on political and economic reforms.

Al-Qaeda may welcome (CSM) a big international commitment in Yemen, since it would open another front to a diffused Western antiterrorism effort. ESTRATEGIA SUTIL, LA DE AL-QAEDA

The Washington Post reports that U.S. military teams and intelligence are deeply involved in a secret joint operation YA NO TAN SECRETA SI EL DIARIO LA REVELA with Yemeni troops, which has killed six of fifteen top leaders in a regional al-Qaeda affiliate in recent weeks. The far-reaching U.S. role in Yemen could be politically challenging for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who must balance American support against backlash by local groups that resent U.S. interference.

Analysis:

In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Marisa Porges says, "the attempted Christmas attack has inadvertently helped the United States on multiple national security fronts."

Background:

In this CFR Expert Brief, Stewart Patrick says the Christmas bomb attempt raised new concerns about "ungoverned spaces." But the term fails to address the real security concerns presented by nations like Yemen.