In the last few years radical Islamist jihadis have exerted substantial efforts to boost their propaganda capabilities by encouraging their followers to exploit all means at their disposal, such as the internet, mobile phones and preaching in mosques. In his communiqués, al-Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri... MORE

QUESTIONS IN MULLAH NAQIBULLAH’S ESCAPE FROM KABUL PRISON The escape of Taliban commander Mullah Naqibullah from a National Security Directorate (NSD) prison in Kabul has raised serious questions about the efficiency and integrity of Afghanistan’s national security services. After returning to his command in Helmand... MORE

Since 9/11, the security and intelligence echelons of the United States have been preoccupied with the possibility of domestic al-Qaeda sleeper cells being activated to perpetrate additional terror attacks. In clandestine activities, a “sleeper” is an operative who establishes deep cover to evade security forces... MORE

RIFT EMERGES IN TALIBAN LEADERSHIP Mullah Mansur Dadullah was relieved of his command for “defiance” of the Taliban leadership in a December 20 statement from Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Umar. Mullah Mansur Dadullah is the brother of the late Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, and succeeded... MORE

AL-QAEDA MURDERS STRIKE ECONOMIC BLOW TO MAURITANIA Only three weeks ago, the impoverished North African nation of Mauritania was looking forward to the economic benefits of a growing tourist industry and the thirtieth running of the famous Dakar Rally, set to start in Lisbon on... MORE

Almost a year after the ouster of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) from Mogadishu, sea pirates have continued to haunt ships along the 2,050-mile Somali coastline. In recent months—with the escalation of fighting in Mogadishu—piracy has actually increased along the sea coast. Sources say some... MORE

The December 11 suicide bombings in Algiers perpetrated by members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) were a profound statement by the group that it remains a persistent threat despite significant setbacks in recent months. The twin bombings—targeting the UN and the Algerian Constitutional... MORE

TALIBAN’S MULLAH UMAR CALLS FOR INTENSIFIED WINTER CAMPAIGN In a message delivered to the Afghan people on the occasion of the Eid al-Adha festival, Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Umar called for the intensification of Taliban military efforts to expel foreign occupation forces this winter (Afghan... MORE

Bitter fighting continues in Ethiopia's troubled southeast as a humanitarian crisis looms, with government troops battling separatist rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). The Ogaden, Ethiopia's “Region Five,” is a poor desert land about the size of Britain with some 4.5 million people,... MORE

An agreement reached on December 2 in Kirkuk between Kurdish and Arab councilmen will end a year-long political boycott by Sunni Arabs in favor of greater power-sharing in the governorate. The Sunnis have long been unable to find political footing in Iraq since the fall... MORE