The Yemen File

Andrew Exum and Richard Fontain, from The Center for New American Security, released a 7 page paper highlighting major security issues concerning Yemen. I want to keep this post short and I don't want to rehash the work Exum and Fontain completed, but I do want to bring attention to their paper.

There are three key dates we need to keep in the back of our minds when we look at Yemen.

2017 Yemen's Oil production will run dry = They won't have a national income!

2035 Yemen's population will double from its current size (40% are unemployed and 45% are under the age of 15

2009 90% of Yemen's water is inefficiently used for Agricultural purposes

On a previous post I advocated for our Government to get diplomatically and economically involved as quickly as possible. Yemen to date has not allocated any resources to discover how their country will make money post Oil. Countries like South Korea and China are currently buying up land in Africa so they will have the water rights to any fresh water on the land. Yemen needs to use their oil income to solidify fresh water resources.

We need a whole government approach to set Yemen up for success or risk AQAP having a population ripe for Islamic radicalization. We can fix their inefficient farming methods to increase their water usage effectiveness. We can help Yemen find an economic path (Dubi?) post Oil. I believe this will give us the leverage needed to effectively conduct a Counter Terror campaign to keep AQAP from becoming a global terror threat. A whole governmental approach now may reduce the need for military action later.

JD