Safe Havens: Physical vs Online

Andrew Exum, perhaps better known as Abu Muqawama has an op-ed in The New Republic. It's must read stuff outlining the importance of Al Qaeda's online forums as tools for recruitment--tools just as vital for their continued existence as physical camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, current US strategy is focused predominantly, (Exum suggests even obsessively) on rooting out the actual training areas and has thus far expended little effort in counteracting terrorist activity online. It's a thorny problem, one that traditional COIN tactics are not particularly well-equipped to handle. This is not to say that American efforts in Af-Pak are necessarily misguided, but simply that they should not be assumed as remedying the problem entirely. In addition, Exum questions the precedent that rooting out Al Qaeda in Pakistan may set. Does that mean the US will be obligated to follow Islamist extremists wherever they set up shop? If so, will the US be invading Somalia? Iran? Germany (where the 9/11 hijackers planned their attack) These are all questions needing much more discussion as future US policy continues to be formulated.