Al Qaeda Research Articles

Islamic Radicalisation in Bangladesh: An Analysis of Political Islamism in Bangladesh

Islamism in the modern world is clearly portrayed as a notion of religious extremism. Bangladesh on the other hand as a young developing nation finds its root into two different branches of ideology: Bengali cultural and Muslim ideology. The militant groups in Bangladesh have been found active recently specially after 2015 when international media spotted Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and the Islamic State’s (IS) presence in the country. This study, however, aims at understanding the Islamic radicalisation in Bangladesh through the analysis of Islamist political and non-political groups’ functions and propaganda. In this article the ideas of Islamic radicalisation, mutations and role and function of Islamist militant as well as political group have been discussed. The role of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing in the radicalisation have been discussed. The disputed relationship of Jamaat and the radical extremists as well as ban on their politics have created a complex scenario in Bangladesh. The political polarisation and politicising of counter terrorism effort have weakened the government’s effort to tackle radical organisation. Honest and tolerant political intervention by welcoming different views regarding the solution of the radicalisation problem can help address it effectively.

The Impact of AQAP’s Governing Structure on Foreign Fighter Civilian Victimization

What role does rebel governance play on the level of civilian casualties stemming from foreign fighters (FF)? I focus on the connection between rebel group governance and the amount of civilian victimization that FF conduct. I argue that inclusive governing structures can decrease the amount of disembeddedness that FF experience, which decreases their propensity for violence against civilians. To make my argument, I use a process tracing model to analyze the evolution of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)’s governing structure in Yemen and what impact that has on the violence that is experienced by civilians. I use primary literature and sources along with secondary literature gathered from the NEXIS database to detail the two phases of AQAP: (2008–2011) and (2012–2016). The analysis is largely supportive of the argument that rebel governance can have a positive impact on FF civilian victimization.

Al Qaeda, Islamists and Terrorism in Southeast Asia: A Lesson from the Past

Al Qaeda, Islamists and Terrorism in Southeast Asia: A Lesson from the Past

A Relational Theory of Jihadist Affiliate Behaviour: The Case of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State

ABSTRACT Why do some AQ and IS affiliates fight one another while others avoid tension or even coordinate? While the extant theories of environment and power balancing provide inroads into such a puzzle, they overlook key relational factors shaping jihadist affiliate behaviour. In this article, I develop a relational theory of AQ-IS interactions, mapping out three avenues of pre-existing social networks: affiliate-civilian, AQ-IS affiliate and affiliate-unaffiliated rebels. Using several datasets, I examine AQ-IS relations in six regions from 2014 to 2018 with a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis. Rival affiliates conflict less while relying on civilian support and cooperate more as off-shoots.

Redefining gender roles: women in South Asia's Jihadist Movements

ABSTRACT South Asia has witnessed a surge in jihadist activity, with Al-Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State (IS) making significant inroads into the region. Their presence has reshaped terrorism dynamics, notably by involving women in jihadism. AQ and IS have leveraged social media to attract both male and female recruits, with a particular focus on the latter. Through a thematic network analysis of online magazines like Azan, Resurgence, Dabiq, Rumiyah, Inspire, and Al Balagh, this article explores the evolving roles that AQ and IS offer to women. It argues that the emphasis on individual obligation of jihad through online propaganda has not only increased women's participation in jihad, but has also redefined their roles in South Asian jihadism. The changing roles of women in jihadism in South Asia encompass a range of activities, including suicide bombers, propagandists, planners, plotters, recruiters, matchmakers, facilitators, and fundraisers. Notably, IS offers a wider array of dynamic roles for women compared to its competitor, AQ. This article highlights the shift in the roles of women in South Asian jihadism due to the online propaganda efforts of AQ and IS, which have expanded the opportunities for women to participate in various capacities within these extremist groups.

The female jihadist narrative: a comparative analysis

The research analyses the representation that different jihadist organizations make of women through their official propaganda. The aim is to analyse the construction of the feminine ideal designed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra through their leading magazines and to identify if there are differences in their representation of women. A content analysis is carried out on the narrative in which females are portrayed by those organizations. The study is also supported by a quantitative analysis of three features, which provide data on prominence of women in jihadism: the number of times they are mentioned, the illustrations targeting females and the existence (or not) of a specific section for women in the magazines of these groups. The research shows that the portrayal of women as victims and weak individuals is recurrent but is not limited to this role. There are differences in the content and subject matter in the official discourse of the three groups, such as with regard to violence perpetrated by women. The strategic and political differences between AQAP, ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra affect the construction of female roles in their official propaganda.

Know Your Enemy: Understanding the Worldview and Motives of Osama Bin Laden and the Jihadist Movement He Inspired

The purpose of this essay is to recall what motivated bin Laden to risk his life, his family, his fortune, and his reputation in confronting the military might of the United States in order to (1) rid the Muslim world of the U.S. presence, (2) overthrow repressive, apostate Muslim regimes not governed by Sharia law, and (3) destroy the state of Israel. The point of understanding bin Laden’s motives is not to excuse any aspect of the barbarous acts he committed, but rather to capture as fully as possible the magnitude of the threat he posed and that which al Qaeda and similar groups, buttressed by his martyrdom, continue to pose.

Explaining the Impact of Extremist Groups in the UK After 9/11

The current study aimed to identify definitions of extremism, its forms, and the reasons for its emergence in societies. In addition to the roots of extremism in the three religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This research studies the role and effects of the 9/11 attacks on the United States as a turning point in modern history and a link between extremism, violence, and global jihad. Al Qaeda as a paradigm. This study uses the descriptive narrative method to describe the characteristics and origins of Islamic extremism and study the attributes of far-right British extremist groups in the UK as a study case. The narrative approach is selected because it is often used to understand individuals and groups better and describe a phenomenon. This study will prove the extent to which extremism directly affects societies and individuals. It also will reveal that extremism often flourishes in environments characterized by social and economic disparities, political instability, ideological polarization, and undemocratic governments. Moreover, the role played by electronic platforms and social networking sites, in addition to mosques and religious sermons, works to facilitate the spread of extremism. Extremist ideologies emerge as a worrying contemporary challenge. The thesis emphasizes the importance of precise and context-specific strategies to combat extremism, emphasizing the need for collaboration between governments, civil society, and technology providers. In conclusion, this research contributes to the academic understanding of extremism, provides a general knowledge of its motivations, and gives recommendations to face it. By comprehensively addressing the root causes and manifestations of extremism, it advocates for holistic approaches that foster inclusivity, education, and social cohesion as essential components in mitigating the impact of extremist ideologies on global society.

Recruitment models and approaches of Islamist terrorist groups: The cases of al Qaeda and ISIS

Recruitment models and approaches of Islamist terrorist groups: The cases of al Qaeda and ISIS

Covid-19 and the Clash of Narratives: From Cold War to End of Time (1989-2023)

This paper discusses the impact of Covid-19 on Islamist narratives of end time scenarios that predict the annihilation of a corrupted world and its ultimate replacement by a world order based exclusively on Islam. It does this against the backdrop of Islam’s antagonistic relationship with the West, particularly from the ending of the Cold War in the early 1990s to the present day, a relationship conducted within the shadow of the US’s attempts to establish a new world order based exclusively on its own values and interests. In the light of the contrary predictions of Francis Fukuyama that the resulting Pax Americana will bring a century of peace and S. P. Huntington a century of conflict, the paper goes on to examine the vastly different world views of the United States on the one hand and Al Qaeda and Islamic State on the other and how they envisage the future unfolding. What the paper shows is that the advent of Covid-19 has served not only to convince traditional Islamic Scholars that Al Mahama, the great battle at the end of time, is well on the way and may even have started, but also to make Muslims in the streets more receptive to such a doomsday message.

Linking Terrorist Network Structure to Lethality: Algorithms and Analysis of Al Qaeda and ISIS

Without measures of the lethality of terrorist networks, it is very difficult to assess if capturing or killing a terrorist is effective. We present the predictive lethality analysis of terrorist organization () algorithm, which merges machine learning with techniques from graph theory and social network analysis to predict the number of attacks that a terrorist network will carry out based on a network structure alone. We show that is highly accurate on two novel datasets, which cover Al Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State (ISIS). Using both machine learning and statistical methods, we show that the most significant macrofeatures for predicting AQ’s lethality are related to their public communications (PCs) and logistical subnetworks, while the leadership and operational subnetworks are most impactful for predicting ISISs lethality. Across both groups, the average degree and the diameters of the strongly connected components (SCCs) within these networks are strongly linked with lethality.

Pakistan's Strategic Calculations and Policy Responses Towards Afghanistan

Traditionally, Pakistan’s foreign policy responses towards Afghanistan have been predominantly shadowed by the former’s security apprehension towards India and any Indian closeness towards Afghanistan raised serious suspicions in Islamabad. Pakistan’s policy makers continued to see Afghanistan from the Indian prism even after 9/11, even when Pakistan become an ally of the US in the War against Terror to overthrow the Afghan Taliban, Islamabad former ally. As a frontline ally of the US, Pakistan provided all the necessary support to the US to dethrone the Afghan Taliban from Kabul and apprehend Al Qaeda militants. However, Islamabad performance against the War on Terror was compromised when India established a strong foothold in Afghanistan by developing close relations with the Anti Pakistan forces in Afghanistan. This article argues the Pakistan’s strategic calculations demanded the country to maintain an alliance with the US and at the same time to limit Indian role in Afghanistan.

How to read a case: Ethnographic lawyering, conspiracy, and the origins of Al Qaeda

AbstractThis article delineates a particular orientation to combining professional legal training and anthropological scholarship that I call ethnographic lawyering. Ethnographic lawyering takes legal form as an object of anthropological analysis, loosely inspired by the Marxist jurist Evgeny Pashukanis's theorization of law as a social relation. If ethnographic method in anthropology entails theorizing from the concepts and experiences of interlocutors, then ethnographic lawyering analytically centers the subjectivities, logics, and relationalities that legal form both presupposes and animates. Ethnographic lawyering brings to light the contingent lives of legal form. To demonstrate this method, the article uses the example of conspiracy in early US court cases involving Al Qaeda, informed by the author's experiences as an attorney and anthropologist in litigation arising from the war on terror. An ethnographic lawyering approach illuminates how conspiracy's distinct forms in criminal law, the law of evidence, and tort law each bring far‐flung subjects, events, and actions together into reified entities even as they atomize and recombine social relations. This dynamic tension resembles the vertiginous nature of conspiracy theorizing in general.

Zawahiri’s General Guidelines and the Collapse of Al Qaeda’s Levant Network

This article addresses the factors leading to Al Qaeda’s continued fragmentation and the collapse of its efforts to create a jihadi state in the Levant. It does so in two parts. First, we look at Al Qaeda’s development of its far enemy strategy that deviated from past jihadi warfare strategies. Second, we examine Al Qaeda’s dysfunctional response to the Arab Spring. The protests untethering of Mideast states and its inflammation of sectarian tensions accelerated Al Qaeda’s transformation into a fractured network committed to localized (increasingly sectarian) insurgencies. After bin Laden’s 2011 killing, Zawahiri in September 2013 released his General Guidelines for the Work of Jihad to tie Al Qaeda’s branches localized insurgencies to a wider struggle against the Zionist-Crusader dominated world order.1 He failed to do so. Upon exploring jihadism’s splintering into three discordant factions represented by Al Qaeda’s far enemy focus, ISIS sectarianism and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) localized insurgencies, this article concludes that this development has led to an ineffective but dangerously resilient global jihadi movement. Key words: Jihadism, extremism, sectarianism, insurgency Received: 2022-12-17 Revised: 2023-01-15

How we went from 9/11 to lone actors

ABSTRACT Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by al Qaeda on the United States, the terrorist threat has evolved. Two decades on, the world continues to worry about violent Islamist terrorist attacks, though now the threat picture seems dominated by lone actor plots which often seem disconnected from any major terrorist group. This article seeks to understand how we got to where we are today by tracing a line through the threat that has been seen over the past twenty years to understand how the threat and response interact with each other. It also seeks to cast a light on how the lone actor threat became the dominant part of the threat picture in large parts of the west.

TERRORISTS OR LEGITIMATE INSURGENTS? THE TALIBAN STATUS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

The term terrorism is not subject to a universally accepted definition. However, it is generally used to describe the use of violence against civilian targets to spread fear and distress and thereby achieve ideological and/or political objectives. Specific acts of terrorism, whether national or international, have been proscribed by respective laws. The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan after Kabul’s collapse in August 2021 has raised an important question: are the Taliban different from other terrorist organizations (e.g., al Qaeda, ISIS)? This debate is significant because the groups share ideological similarities and execution practices; and at present, the Taliban face challenges of both intent and capability vis-à-vis ceasing acts of terror and ending ties with other terrorist organizations. This paper argues that the lack of a universally agreed definition of terrorism may not affect the investigation and prosecution of the Taliban’s terrorist offenses. In this regard, this paper critically appraises three factors—accountability, ties with terrorist organizations, and the inclusion of Taliban members’ names in the global sanctions regime. It also demonstrates why the international community is obligated to take both legal and ‘non-legal’ actions against the Taliban to avoid the normalization of terrorism.

Mapping the Travel Geography of the 9/11 Network

This article models the geography of the 9/11 network members’ many travels from the moment the hijackers first boarded a plane to the United States until they killed 2,977 people on 11 September 2001. Building on publicly available sources, and for the first time in the literature, we address the spatiality of the terrorist network through two related concepts. First, we focus on colocation and show that the scale and sophistication of the 9/11 attacks did not require copresence to be successful. Individuals from a cell did not spend most of their time together. We then focus on co-destination and find that the need for coordination required that the 9/11 hijackers followed the same itineraries between cities. In other words, the travel geography of the four Al Qaeda cells responsible for the attacks closely mirrors the network’s cell-based social structure. Then as now, the case of the 9/11 attacks suggests that spatializing social networks is an important window to understanding the emergence of terrorist networks and disrupting their patterns.

Islam, media framing and Islamophobia in the US press, before and after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack

ABSTRACT On 7 January 2015, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, armed with Kalashnikovs, entered the headquarters of the Paris-based satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and opened fire, killing 12 people and injuring 11 more. It would later emerge that the brothers – both native Frenchmen born to Algerian parents – belonged to the Islamist terrorist group, al Qaeda. The attack, which targeted a Western magazine, attracted tremendous international news coverage, provoking a widespread debate over issues relating to free speech, immigration (even though both attackers were born in France) and integration. There has been less discussion of the news framing of the attack by Western media outlets, and to what degree that news framing may have been biased or Islamophobic. In this study, it is our goal to understand how media framing may have been affected by this attack, and to what degree such framing is Islamophobic. To that end, we have operationalised the Runnymede framework of Islamophobia using the content analysis software Nvivo, in order to identify and better understand manifestations of Islamophobia in the mainstream press. Specifically, we analyse the news framing of Islam in the headlines of two US daily newspapers, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Countering Far-Right Anti-Government Extremism in the United States

The far-right anti-government extremist movement poses a significant threat in the United States. The January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol illustrates the capacity of this movement to plan and mount violent attacks against government targets and democratic institutions. In this article, we explore how the organisational and tactical characteristics of the far-right anti-government movement in the United States enable it to thrive despite the dangers it poses to the public. We argue that its deep-seated ideological roots, fluid organisational structure, and mix of violent and nonviolent tactics make the movement difficult for federal and state authorities to proscribe, prosecute, and ultimately eliminate. US policymakers need to develop an informed response that accounts for the fluid, decentralised, and public-facing nature of anti-government extremism, as well as the pervasive distrust of federal authority that it reflects. We suggest that this approach will likely differ from the modern counter-terrorism tools that were initially designed to combat terrorist threats emanating from abroad, such as those posed by Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. We ground our arguments in evidence from cases of anti-government extremist groups and followers active in the United States over the past three decades.

Terrorist Structures in the Middle East from a Psychological Perspective; Reaction and Exploitation (The Case of Al Qaeda and ISIS)

Terrorism and terrorism are among the most important problems of international security. In the security studies literature, many hypotheses have been put forward regarding the causes of terrorism. These studies, which are carried out regionally in the Middle East, mostly include evaluations made from a religious perspective. In this study, the causality of psychological factors in the background of terrorism and terrorist organizations in the Middle East was questioned and it was argued that psychological motivations, along with many other factors, had an effect on the emergence of terrorism. In this context, the psychological elements in the background of terrorism were examined through two exemplary terrorist organizations, namely Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The structuring and spheres of influence of these organizations, both regionally and globally, were investigated. It is clear that such terrorist organizations have developed psychological warfare strategies as well as effective warfare. The propaganda tools and ideological references of these organizations that create psychological effects were examined. The characteristics and lives of the leaders of the organization were examined. The psychological arguments made by the experts were compared with examples from the lives and characters of the leaders. In addition to individual studies, the process that caused the problem was also examined with its social and cultural aspects. The problematic psychological infrastructure caused by cultural teachings that push individuals to such structures has been examined. In addition to these different approaches, the contribution of international actors' foreign policy decisions to the process has been examined. Thus, in the study, the subject was handled with an interdisciplinary approach and a discussion was carried out in partnership with the discipline of Psychology and International Relations.