Yemen focus of international talks in London

Today the Yemeni government issued a statement renewing its pledge to confront militants within its country calling for "sustained and focused engagement." This comes as world leaders converge in London to discuss future strategy in both Yemen and Afghanistan. The conference was called by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown after it was revealed that the Nigerian man who is accused of plotting to bomb an airline on Christmas day had studied in Yemen and possibly had contact with Al Qaeda members in the country. Meanwhile, US military involvement in Yemen is ramping up. Today, the Washington Post reports that over the past six weeks several dozen troops from the US military's Joint Special Operations Command have assisted Yemeni troops to target and kill scores of people.

To learn more about these issues, we're joined by Zachary Lockman, chair of the dept of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University.