UNABATED conflict in the Middle East, an emboldened Al-Qaeda and Islamic radicalism growing across Europe - a think tank offered a bleak assessment on Wednesday in its annual report on global security.
The International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) said the United States had lost authority and influence as a result of failings over the Iraq war, encouraging its detractors - including Iran and Russia - and jeopardising stability in Asia and the Middle East.
LONDON - UNABATED conflict in the Middle East, an emboldened Al-Qaeda and Islamic radicalism growing across Europe - a think tank offered a bleak assessment on Wednesday in its annual report on global security.
The International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) said the United States had lost authority and influence as a result of failings over the Iraq war, encouraging its detractors - including Iran and Russia - and jeopardising stability in Asia and the Middle East.
New European leaders offer hope of a fresh approach in the fight against terrorism and attempts to bring peace to the Middle East, the annual IISS survey of international security said, but achievements are unlikely with a White House struggling to command global respect.
With weak leadership from Washington, 'the risk is that simmering international tensions will spill over and endanger global prosperity', the London think tank's report said.
A string of thwarted terrorist plots in Europe had highlighted a growing radicalisation among the continent's Islamic communities - and a wider failure to disable Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, it said.
'The United States and its allies have failed to deal a deathblow to Al-Qaeda; the organisation's ideology appears to have taken root to such a degree that it will require decades to eradicate,' the report warned.
In Iraq, a surge of 30,000 additional US troops - aiming to quell insurgent violence - must win more support from Iraqi politicians if it is to deliver improved security, the IISS said.
'There are grave doubts, about the ability, let alone the willingness, of the Iraqi government to do this,' said the report.
If the surge does not bring 'sustainable security and political compromise' by early next year it will have failed, the think tank said.
The report was written before the top US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, recommended on Monday keeping the bulk of US forces in Iraq - around 130,000 troops - until at least next summer.
Authors of the study asserted that the conflict has taken a toll on the US.
'The damage to international security caused by the Iraq war and the ensuing loss of American standing will take some years to repair,' the report said.
In Afghanistan, those whose livelihoods have been destroyed by conflict and disaffected young men displaced to refugee camps in Pakistan are fueling a growing insurgency, the IISS said.
The international community could encourage Afghanistan's government to draw moderate Taleban leaders into the political process, the report proposed. Western governments should also revise aims on reducing poppy cultivation, it said.
Figures released in July showed Afghanistan's illicit heroin-producing poppy harvest set another record this growing season.
There may have to be an acceptance 'poppy is too deeply woven into the national psyche and local economy to be eradicated wholesale', the IISS said. -- AP
