Morocco Can Fix America's Arabian Gulf Problem (Ahmed Charai, The National Interest)

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama met with the heads of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh under strained circumstances. Concerns are widespread about the historic security alliance between the United States on the one hand and, on the other, Saudi Arabia and its key Gulf allies. Since the aftermath of the Second World War, the United States and the Gulf have worked together to guarantee the sea lanes through which the vast majority of the world’s energy resources travel, and maintain stability in the surrounding countries, which are the most volatile and conflict-ridden in the Arab world. This alliance has been mission-critical in staving off threats to these areas that date back to the early years of Iran’s Islamic revolution, when the Khomeini regime first began to attempt to destabilize and dominate the area.

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/morocco-can-fix-americas-arabian-gulf-problem-15899

Getting Serious about North Africa (Ahmed Charai, FPRI)

A​ growing number of terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe have a North African connection -- yet Washington policymakers continue to pay far less attention to the region than is warranted. ISIS and al-Qaeda, by contrast, regard the area as a primary focus of their strategy. North Africa is becoming a new Afghanistan: in large part, a mosaic of failed and failing states, and fertile territory for radical Islamists to gather recruits, train them, and harden them with continuous combat. Once proficient and confident in the art of war, these terrorists carry out attacks around the world.

http://www.fpri.org/articles/2016/02/getting-serious-about-north-africa