Latest Articles about South Asia
Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Airbase: A Key Asset in the War on Terrorism
The collapse of communism in the USSR in 1991 and the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States a decade later offered the Pentagon basing possibilities impossible even to conceive of during the Cold War. The chief beneficiaries were Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which were... MORE
Iranian Involvement in Afghanistan
The Afghan media has published an increasing number of critical reports about Iran's secret contacts with insurgent groups in Afghanistan, specifically those groups fighting against the U.S. presence in the country. On September 5, for instance, the Pashto-language newspaper Weesa referred to unidentified local officials... MORE
Al-Suri’s Doctrines for Decentralized Jihadi Training – Part 2
Training jihadi recruits in the post-9/11 world is increasingly about finding a safe place where training is possible rather than discussing curricula, facilities, selection of recruits, instructors and related tasks [1]. In his voluminous treatise The Call to Global Islamic Resistance, published on the internet... MORE
Asfandyar Wali: Profile of Pakistan’s Progressive Pashtun Politician
On January 10, Pakistan's secular and Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) won a critical electoral battle in Bajaur Agency. The ANP political party is led by the seasoned politician Asfandyar Wali Khan. The election struck a blow to pro-Taliban elements in the region, and... MORE
Three Explanations for al-Qaeda’s Lack of a CBRN Attack
The evidence of al-Qaeda's interest in conducting a terrorist attack with chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) weapons appears compelling. As early as 1998, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden declared the acquisition of CBRN weapons a "religious duty" for Muslims [1]. He followed up in... MORE
The Ideological Voices of the Jihadi Movement
It is news to few observers that thousands, even millions, of young Muslims are influenced—to some extent—by jihadi literature circulating on various Islamist websites and discussion forums. The mujahideen's use of the internet for communication, indoctrination, recruitment and public relations has been well demonstrated. Through... MORE
Pakistan’s Chitral District: A Refuge for al-Qaeda’s Top Leadership?
In the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders, security services continue to focus on Pakistan's Chitral district in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Chitral became a concern after the release of a bin Laden videotape from September 2003 in which trees... MORE
Islamist Websites Succeed in Recruiting Muslims for Jihad
Jihadi leaders continue to establish new websites on the internet by which they spread their ideology and identify users who can be recruited for the global jihad. If preaching and disseminating fanatical and extreme ideas on the internet is itself a concern, the use of... MORE
The Black-Turbaned Brigade: The Rise of TNSM in Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat- e-Mohammadi (TNSM, Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws) is emerging as one of the most dangerous religious militant groups in Pakistan. Its founder and leader, Sufi Mohammad, is behind bars and the organization was banned in early 2002. Still, its support base in... MORE
The Geostrategic Implications of the Baloch Insurgency
Pakistan continues to grapple with insurgent violence in its southwestern province of Balochistan, which is bounded by the country's tribal belt in the northwest, Afghanistan in the north and Iran in the west. In the northwest, Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has also been... MORE