Chechen Conflict: A Case for U.S. Intervention

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With Russia's inability to improve conditions in Chechnya and the international community's failed attempts to negotiate a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, Islamic extremism in Chechnya is growing precipitously and risks spilling over into the neighboring republics of Ingushetia, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria and the neighboring country of Georgia. The question this paper addresses, therefore, is: does the unresolved Chechen conflict and the spread of Islamic extremism warrant U.S. intervention? As this paper's analysis of the conflict demonstrates, the answer to this question is a resounding -yes. In fact, this paper argues that if the United States does not use its influence to resolve the Chechen conflict and thus preempt the growth of Islamic extremism in the North Caucasus, Chechnya risks devolving into a major front in the GWOT. The only thing that keeps Chechnya from morphing into a major front in the GWOT today is the secular Chechen separatist leadership that continuously struggles to control, with varying degrees of success, the rebellious Islamic extremist faction within its movement. The pro-Moscow Chechen security and Russian military forces' heavy-handed tactics and almost daily human rights abuses against the Chechen people do not help the already volatile situation. The only nation capable of reversing the downward spiral of Chechnya into a major front in the GWOT is the United States. The United States, as a close GWOT ally and economic partner to Russia, has the influence to negotiate an end to the Chechen conflict and deter the Islamic extremists' aspirations of a greater Islamic state in the North Caucasus. This paper recommends the following six-point peace initiative as a framework from which the United States can intervene to resolve the Chechen conflict: Six Point Peace Initiative. 1. Define the Threat: The United States needs to engage the Russian and Chechen leaders by first brokering an agreement on the definition of the threat in