With Us and Against Us

Stephen Tankel is an Assistant Professor in the School of International Service at American University and a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for New American Security. He has written Storming the World Stage: The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba (Columbia, 2011), and has published articles in Eurasia Review, Foreign Policy, Politico and others.Stephen Tankel is assistant professor at American University, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, and senior editor at War on the Rocks. He has served as a senior advisor at the Department of Defense and is the author of Storming the World Stage: The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba (2011).

Paul R. Pillar, author of Why America Misunderstands the World: National Experience and Roots of Misperception:
This book provides the most thorough description and analysis of interstate counterterrorist cooperation, and everything that affects it, from a U.S. point of view. It will serve as a standard reference point in the literature whenever the subject of such cooperation comes up. Tankel convincingly demonstrates that many of the states in question are simultaneously both part of the problem and part of the solution. With Us and Against Us is a serious, careful, and informed treatment of a timely and important topic.

Will McCants, author of The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State:
With Us and Against Us shines a bright light on a notoriously shadowy subject: the cooperation between states and terrorist groups. If there’s anyone qualified to write about the conflicting interests that drive these relationships and the tough trade-offs they entail for U.S. policy makers, it’s Tankel.

Lawrence Freedman, author of The Future of War: A History:
Working with international partners in the fight against terrorism can be demanding and frustrating. Yet as Stephen Tankel demonstrates in reviewing some of the United States’ most important partnerships, they are also vital. He warns that attempts to combat terrorism without them risks trouble.