Latest Terrorism Monitor Articles
Khyber Tribal Agency: A New Hub of Islamist Militancy in Pakistan
Pakistan’s tribal belt has been the center of global attention for several years because of widespread speculation regarding the presence of al-Qaeda fugitives and Taliban leaders. Since the start of military operations in late 2003, violence and bloodshed has become a routine matter, particularly in... MORE
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Return to the Afghan Insurgency
The Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Party of Afghanistan, or HIA), sidelined from Afghan politics since the fall of the mujahideen regime to the Taliban in the mid-1990s, has recently reemerged as an aggressive militant group, claiming responsibility for many bloody attacks against Coalition forces and the... MORE
Is Iran’s Mujahideen-e-Khalq a Threat to the Islamist Regime?
The People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), more commonly known as the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (“people’s mujahideen”; MEK), is one of the most organized and controversial Iranian opposition groups. Although it maintains an armed wing—known as the National Liberation Army (NLA)—and numerous front organizations, it derives its greatest... MORE
Darfur’s JEM Rebels Bring the War to Khartoum
Last weekend’s daring raid on greater Khartoum by Darfur’s rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has shaken the regime and effectively disrupted the already morbid peace process in West Sudan. Though often referred to as a Darfur rebel group, JEM in fact has a national... MORE
The Bengali Taliban: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
The April 30 sentencing of four cadres of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to 26 years of hard labor for throwing bombs at a local court in 2005 returned the focus to Bangladesh’s struggle against pressing odds to contain the rise of Islamic extremism (Daily... MORE
PJAK in Northern Iraq: Tangled Interests and Proxy Wars
The Kurdish area in northern Iraq has become one of the most complex fronts in the war in Iraq, a place where Iranian, Turkish, Kurdish, Iraqi and American interests clash. An often perplexing role in the region’s conflicts is played by the Party for a... MORE
Yemen’s Three Rebellions
Politics in Yemen has always been a violent affair. Two of its four presidents have died unnaturally—one in a hotel room surrounded by drugs and prostitutes; his successor, suddenly and absurdly, by an exploding briefcase. The next man to take office, a young tank commander... MORE
Confronting the Sadrists: The Issue of State and Militia in Iraq
On April 26, Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr stood down from his threat to wage an all-out war against the Iraqi government and the coalition. A week before, the anti-American cleric had issued a statement threatening to declare an open war if the security crackdown... MORE
Afghanistan’s National Army: The Ambiguous Prospects of Afghanization
Over the last few years the Afghan National Army (ANA) has often been presented as a success story. This certainly holds some truth, at least in comparison with Afghanistan’s national police, which is widely seen as a complete failure. The ANA is reasonably well behaved... MORE
Susurluk and the Legacy of Turkey’s Dirty War
On April 23 the Turkish Council of State ordered former Interior Minister Mehmet Agar to stand trial for allegedly “forming a criminal organization” in the dirty war against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) during the 1990s, a period most Turks refer to as the “Susurluk”... MORE