Latest Terrorism Focus Articles
Mumbai Terror Investigation Leads to Pakistan’s “Epicenter of Terrorism”
Two weeks after the deadly Mumbai terrorist incidents which claimed 164 lives, including security forces personnel and foreign nationals, Indian investigating agencies have been struggling to unearth a terror trail that appears to point directly towards neighboring Pakistan. In one of the most prolonged and... MORE
U.S. Missiles Target Suspect in Transatlantic Airliner Plot
Late in the evening of November 21, a U.S. operated Predator drone struck a house in North Waziristan owned by local warlord Khaliq Noor. Among those allegedly killed were British-Pakistani militant Rashid Rauf and senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubair al-Masri (Dawn [Karachi], November 22; BBC,... MORE
The Role of Tribal Lashkars in Winning Pakistan’s War on Terror
After successive failed attempts to tackle the rising militancy in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the adjoining North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan’s new civilian government is now encouraging local tribal people to stand up against the Taliban and al-Qaeda and flush them from... MORE
What Lies Ahead for U.S.-Turkish Counterterrorism Cooperation in the Obama Era?
The strategic relationship between Turkey and the United States entered into a new phase on November 5, 2007, when President Bush pledged real-time intelligence sharing with the Turkish military while condemning the Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan - PKK): "The PKK is a terrorist... MORE
Iraq’s Shias Split over the Impending U.S.-Iraq Status-of-Forces Agreement
Major divisions have begun to emerge in the Shia political bloc following the Iraqi cabinet’s approval of a proposed security agreement between Baghdad and Washington that would authorize American forces to remain in the country until the end of 2011 (Voices of Iraq, November 18;... MORE
A Mujahideen Bleed-Through from Iraq? Part Three – The Case of Jordan
Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Jordan has been a nation living in an uneasy relationship with the Sunni Islamist movement. With a population more than fifty-percent Palestinian, Jordan became an ever-more useful place for Palestinian radicals to hang their hats while preparing plans to destroy... MORE
Turkey Urges International Cooperation in its Struggle against Kurdish Militants
Turkey has recently intensified its international effort to limit the activities of the Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan - PKK) in the international arena. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has written a letter to European leaders, suggesting that merely recognizing the PKK as... MORE
The Neo-Zarqawists: Divisions Emerge between Jordan’s Salafist Militants
On October 27 an open letter signed by a number of prominent Jordanian Salafists and warning of a new zealot takfiri group in Jordan circulated on jihadist web-forums (alhesbahweb.net, October 27; muslm.net, October 27). Following the takfiri practice of condemning fellow Muslims as apostates or... MORE
A Mujahideen Bleed-Through From Iraq? Part Two – A Look at Lebanon
Lebanon always has been a country whose people are more loyal to family, clan, tribe, and faith than to the concept of Lebanon as a united nation-state. Since 2003, this existing internal divisiveness has been sharpened by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq and... MORE
India and Pakistan Address Terrorism Issues as Relations Deteriorate
The fourth meeting of the Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism (JATM) between India and Pakistan on October 24 in New Delhi remained trapped between diplomatic niceties and hard-nosed positions, adding to the widely held skepticism about the utility of such an exercise. While the Indians were insistent... MORE