David Kilcullen Participates in Panel on The 2008 Mumbai Attacks

On December 4, 2008, CNAS Senior Fellow David Kilcullen participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Counterterrorism Blog on the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In addition to Dr. Kilcullen, the panel consisted of Dr. Walid Phares from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Farhana Ali of the RAND Corp., and was moderated by Andrew Cochran, Founder and Co-Editor of The Counterterrorism Blog.

Discussing the attacks, Kilcullen comments: “This was not some Islamic charity or some group working alone from the Deccan Mujahedeen: this has all the hallmarks of a Special Forces raid, closer to a commando or SBS raiding activity than a traditional Al Qaeda style terrorist attack.” Dr. Kilcullen further expounds:  “The Pakistani response is also instructive- President Zardari offered general Pasha, the head of the ISI, to help out with the investigation and 24 hours later, General Kiyani, the Pakistan Chief of Army Staff, said no and recalled him. The other question, then, is who is actually in charge in Pakistan and to what extent is their national security state operating outside civilian government control? I think it is way too early to hold anyone inside Pakistan responsible.”

To read the full transcript, please click here.