Before leaving, he did not formally place Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan in control of the government, essentially creating a power vacuum without any clear succession plan.

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She had trained for enough emergencies to know that beneath almost every sort of raging anxiety there was a calm pocket, a perfect little vacuum in which both thoughts and actions were crisp and clear.

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Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Tuesday the war in Afghanistan was not a "war without end" but stressed the need for a "clear political strategy" so as not to leave a "vacuum which the Taliban will quickly fill".

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He said that legislators had a duty to the public to make it clear exactly what would happen in that situation and that legislators in Westminster do not legislate for a vacuum.

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The attached article makes clear that a new "foreign policy tool" is emerging -- one that might fill the growing vacuum that would arise if the House vote approving PNTR has the effect of eviscerating the use of U.S. trade sanctions for such purposes.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy