The financing of terrorism through illicit drug trafficking has been touted as a major problem since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Indeed, during the last decade, Afghanistan has been the most important opium producing country in the world. It was under Taliban rule... MORE

Nine years have passed since the imposition of the Dayton Agreement on war torn Bosnia-Herzegovina. While Dayton facilitated the end of fighting between Serb, Croat, and Bosnian republican forces - the latter typically referred to in global media as "Muslim militia" - it also left... MORE

In October of 2003 Japan received its first overt threat from al Qaeda. A videotape was released on which Osama Bin Laden purportedly promised suicide attacks against the United States and those countries supporting the American occupation of Iraq. That list includes Australia, Great Britain,... MORE

In the case of East Asia, some countries -- like China -- have been skilled at adapting the war on terror to their own national security priorities. For others -- such as Indonesia and Japan -- the specter of transnational terrorism as represented by al... MORE

Viktor Vasilevich Bout, one of the world's most notorious arms merchants with proven links to the Taliban, has become a valued partner of the U.S. as it grapples with the insurgency in Iraq. Bout's airline, British Gulf, flies material into Baghdad International airport for the... MORE

Much has changed since the 1960s and 70s. Back then, there was a whole host of states that could be suspected of funding, equipping or lending more surreptitious assistance to terrorist organizations. In 2004, the list of state sponsors of terrorism has diminished considerably. Born... MORE

The involvement of Moroccan Islamists in the Madrid terrorist attacks on March 11 has overshadowed the significantly larger role that Algerian Salafists — with ties to al-Qaeda — have had in recent terrorist activities in Spain. In mid-October, Spanish authorities dismantled an Algerian Salafist terrorist... MORE

On October 27, the re-trial of the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), Abu Bakar Ba'asyir began. While significant in its own right, the trial is in many ways a litmus test of the new Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration's commitment to combating terrorism. Head... MORE

The role played by failed states in harboring militant Islamist groups is a feature of the war on terror that is likely to receive a great deal of attention in the coming years. Africa has been singled out as particularly vulnerable in this regard, not... MORE

Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (the Islamic party of liberation) has had a largely unremarkable history since its founding in Jerusalem by Sheikh Takiuddin an-Nabahani in 1953. It was formed to promote the politics of pan-Islam—a goal that it has stuck to doggedly for the past 50... MORE