Yemen: Is Saleh Needed to Fight Extremism?

Ellen Knickmeyer, writing at Foreign Policy, believes that, “few in the West have much enthusiasm for democracy in Sana’a” as Yemen possesses one of the most active units of al-Qaeda in the region. However, Knickmeyer argues that, “Saleh may be maintaining his own presidency, but he has done little to maintain the well-being of his country, which is collapsing.” Knickmeyer goes on to argue that an “overnight democracy” is not what Yemen needs, but the deep seeded corruption and illegitimate regime continue to be an impediment to the crises that face the Yemeni people and the world.  Knickmeyer believes that pushing for a “broad-based, accountable, and representative political system” is one of the most vital US foreign policy issues in the region and argues that aid conditionality can be used to bring actual political opening and participation of Yemen’s most talented leaders who can work to solve the country’s problems.