Terrorism - Related

Islam, Islamism, and Politics in Eurasia Report (IIPER) - No. 51, 8 February 2012

azikibayeva — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Contents:

Russia

Islam, Islamism, and Politics in Eurasia Report (IIPER) - No. 50, 25 January 2012

azikibayeva — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Contents:

Russia:

Negotiating with the Taliban: Six Critical Conditions that Must Be Met to Avoid Another “Peace to End All Peace”

sherry — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

There is no doubt that successful peace talks would be the best possible outcome of the Afghan conflict for everyone involved. History is not, however, filled with best possible outcomes.

Needed: A National Economic Security Lens

ecurran — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Last October, a U.S. intelligence report to Congress revealed that foreign economic espionage worth billions of dollars is being driven by China and Russia and represents a “significant and growing” threat to the nation’s prosperity and security.

The Year Ahead

ian — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

On December 18, 2010, a police slap of a vegetable-cum-fruit peddler in the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid triggered an “Arab Spring” that no one had forecast and that quickly spawned a long, dark Arab winter.

Critical Questions for 2012

ian — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

From international security and regional study to global challenges, CSIS experts will address many of the world's most difficult policy concerns and critical questions in 2012. To kick off the new year, we asked 25 of our scholars to identity what worries them most and what are the biggest opportunities in their respective areas of study.

Islam, Islamism, and Politics in Eurasia Report (IIPER) - No. 49, 30 December 2011

azikibayeva — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Contents:

Russia

Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province

jdunton — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The traditional weaknesses in service delivery within Pakistan’s provincial and district governments have arisen from the complex interplay of several factors. Resource mobilization for essential services has always been a challenge for provincial governments, which typically have been dependent on federal handouts.

Governance and Militancy in Pakistan's Khyber Agency

jdunton — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

In mid-October 2011, thousands of families were fleeing Khyber, one of the seven tribal agencies in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), to refugee camps or relatives living outside of FATA. Their flight was in response to the announcement by the Pakistani military that it was undertaking a fresh round of operations against militant groups operating in the area.

Islam, Islamism, and Politics in Eurasia Report (IIPER) - No 48, 12 December 2011

azikibayeva — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Contents:

Russia

Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Chitral District

jdunton — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Chitral, the northernmost district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province, lies at the extreme northwest of Pakistan. It shares a border with Afghanistan’s Badakhshan, Nuristan, and Kunar Provinces to the north and west, with Gilgit-Baltistan region to the east, and with the Kohistan, Swat, and Dir Districts to the south.

Abu Sayyaf Group

jdunton — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Founded in the early 1990s as a Filipino Muslim (Moro) terrorist organization, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) emerged as a more violent Islamist alternative to the stagnated political movements of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). ASG strove to create an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

Pakistan Crisis and Its Impacts on the Afghan Transition

ian — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The outcome of latest US crisis with Pakistan is still unclear.

Islam, Islamism, and Politics in Eurasia Report (IIPER) - No. 47, 21 November 2011

azikibayeva — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Contents:

Rethinking the Arab "Spring": Stability and Security in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and the Rest of the MENA Region

ian — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

No one can ignore the short-term problems the political upheavals in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia create for each country. New leaders must be chosen and security systems must be changed. The problems involved can kill political, economic and demographic reforms before they even begin.

Jemaah Islamiyah

jdunton — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) was created by Abdullah Sungkar and Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, two Indonesian extremists who fled to Malaysia in 1985. In exile, the two men began dispatching fighters to join the growing ranks of international Muslim volunteers seeking to repel the Red Army from Afghanistan.

Islam, Islamism and Politics in Eurasia Report (IIPER) - No. 46, 31 October 2011

azikibayeva — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Contents:

The Lord’s Resistance Army

ian — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

President Obama announced on October 14 that he was sending approximately 100 military advisers to central Africa to assist in efforts to neutralize one of the continent’s most notorious rebel groups, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Iran Delivers a Wake-up Call

sherry — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Last week, the Obama administration revealed that it had caught an Iranian-American used car salesman conspiring to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States and possibly carry out attacks on Saudi and Israeli diplomats in Argentina. At first glance, the plot did not jibe with familiar patterns of Iranian behavior.

Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Swat Valley

jdunton — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

In 2009, the Swat Valley became a focal point of Pakistan’s war against militancy and terrorism. The government signed a peace agreement effectively ceding control of the district to the local Taliban faction, allowing it to enforce its interpretation of Islamic law.

US Strategic Competition with Iran: The Assassination Plot

ian — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has long been the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move. Iran may now have radically changed the rules if Iran’s senior leadership can be tied to the involvement of members of the Al-Quds Force in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US.

Islam, Islamism and Politics in Eurasia Report (IIPER) - No. 45, 10 October 2011

jdunton — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Contents:

Russia

Karzai’s Visit to India: Upping the Ante in South Asia?

ian — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

President Hamid Karzai visited India this week and signed a wide-ranging strategic partnership agreement with India. His visit comes shortly after the assassination of prominent Afghan leader Burhanuddin Rabbani who was the head of the Afghan High Peace Council.

Pakistan - Violence Versus Stability

ian — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Pakistan is passing through one of the most dangerous periods in its history. An assessment of the growing patterns of violence and instability indicate that it may be approaching a perfect storm of threats, including rising extremism, a failing economy, chronic underdevelopment, and an intensifying war, resulting in unprecedented political, economic, and social turmoil.

Afghanistan and Pakistan: Continuing Security Challenges For the United States

ian — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The US confronts a wide range of challenges if it is to win the Afghan conflict in any meaningful sense, and leave a stable Afghanistan and Pakistan:

Crossroads

jdunton — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The U.S.-Israel partnership is under unprecedented strain. The relationship is deep and cooperation remains robust, but the challenges to it now are more profound than ever. Growing differences could undermine the national security of both the United States and Israel, making strong cooperation uncertain in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable Middle East.

The War in Afghanistan: The Real Lessons of the Attack in Kabul

ian — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

There is a growing tendency to cover the war in Afghanistan by chasing the headlines from event to event. The kind of coverage turns a tragic helicopter crash into a crisis, and does the same for a largely symbolic attack on the ISAF and Embassy compound in Kabul.

The Lessons and Challenges of September 2011 – the New "9/11"

sherry — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Every American has their own story about 9/11. Mine is that I live a mile from the Pentagon, and had a meeting there cancelled the night before the attack. I came into my office in Washington early, and saw the Twin towers collapse before the aircraft hit the Pentagon. I missed the actual attack, but not the smell of electrical fires in the building.

Confronting an Uncertain Threat

jdunton — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Al Qaeda and associated movements (AQAM) have become an increasingly diffuse security threat. Although the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderlands may have represented the epicenter of global terrorism in the past decade, al Qaeda’s various regional affiliates are growing in prominence.

Getting the Caucasus Emirate Right

jdunton — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

“Allah willing, all of the brothers, who are carrying out Jihad in the entire world, are our brothers for the sake of Allah, and we all today are going on one road and this road leads to Paradise.” These are not the words of al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, or even the Taliban’s Mullah Omar.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

jdunton — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emerged from a decades-long militant Islamist tradition in Algeria. In 1998, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat, or GSPC) broke away from the Armed Islamic Group (Groupe Islamique Armé, or GIA) because of the GIA’s extensive targeting of civilians.

US and Chinese Cooperation in Counterterrorism in the Middle East and Central Asia

sherry — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The United States and China do have many reasons to cooperate in counterterrorism, but they also have different political systems and different values. The United States sees some Uighur and Tibetan movements as legitimate political and protest efforts that China sees as threats to its security.

Islam, Islamism and Politics in Eurasia Report (IIPER) - No. 44, 12 August 2011

azikibayeva — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Contents:

Russia

Caucasus Emirate Patches Up Split with Chechen Amirs
CE-affiliated Website Reports Number of Jihadi Attacks and Resulting Casualties from January through June 2011

U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan: The Need for Perspective

ian — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

There are good reasons to question whether we should stay in Afghanistan.

Conference Report: Planning for Post-Gadhafi Libya

mDziuban — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

On July 25, CSIS convened approximately 50 experts from the government, diplomatic and expert communities to analyze the way forward in Libya. Among the key conclusions of the speakers are:

Going to Extremes: Can Norway and Europe Address the Growth of the Far Right?

sherry — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

On July 22, 2011, a right-wing extremist, Anders Behring Breivik, attacked a government building in central Oslo as well as a political youth camp on the island of Utøya, killing 76 people including many youth of the country’s liberal political elite.

International Standardization of Air Passenger and Cargo Screening

sherry — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Despite efforts by the United States and other nations to strengthen passenger and cargo screening procedures and technology, civil aviation remains a favored target of international terrorists.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

jdunton — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) emerged in January 2009 from the union of two preexisting militant groups: al Qaeda in Yemen (AQY) and al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.1 Both organizations included several combatants that fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden.

Islam, Islamism and Politics in Eurasia Report (IIPER) - No. 43, 21 July 2011

azikibayeva — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Contents:

Russia

Al Shabaab

jdunton — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Al Shabaab is an al Qaeda-affiliated organization that has risen rapidly to prominence in the midst of Somalia’s decades-long anarchy. The group has experienced two dramatic transformations in its short history.

July 2011 Mumbai Attacks

sherry — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Q1: What happened during the last attacks in Mumbai in November 2008?

Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Art of the Possible

jdunton — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

On June 14, 2011, more than 200 policymakers and experts participated in an invitation-only, full-day working meeting at CSIS to discuss a constructive, realistic way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The main topics were Afghan governance, the Afghan security sector, and Pakistani cooperation.

Assessing Risks to Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa

jdunton — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The report Assessing Risks to Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa provides an overview of the CSIS study series Stress Testing African States that examines the risks of instability in 10 African countries over the next decade: read more

Ethiopia