Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) teams up with Pulitzer Prize winner and Democrat Lewis Simons on his most recent publication, The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace with Islam. The book outlines bipartisan support for the necessity of taking a smart power approach in dealing with the region around Afghanistan.

At an event for the release of the book, which was five years in the making, Sen. Bond explained: “I believe the best defense we have against future attacks is to build strong friendships with the moderate people and governments of the [Southeast Asia] region. We can do this — in part — by exercising Smart Power. Smart Power is using a combination of military power, and economic, diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives. Smart Power recognizes that before a person can choose his politics, he must have enough to eat, and a safe community in which to live.”