Isolating Yemen’s Extremists

Karin von Hippel was quoted in a UPI article about the attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen. As an element of the counterterrorism effort, she calls for a broader U.S. initiative in Yemen that expands economic and governance assistance programs:

"We need to beef up our democratization programs," supporting the development of political parties and other civil society institutions, she said, "and do more social service provision with the government." She called for more "basic development in the countryside." "We're spending very little money in Yemen," she said of U.S. aid programs, adding that any counter-terrorism policy had to address "the extreme poverty" in parts of the country.