THE landscape of international
security has changed dramatically since Sept 11 attack in the US, exactly 20
years ago. Terrorism and terror acts are not limited to a single country or
region. Terrorism is now becoming a global crisis. It has grown from the north
to the south and from west to the east.
After al-Qaeda was vanquished,
Islamic State (ISIS) went on to commit more atrocities around the world. This
organisation, likewise, had been defeated a few years ago.
The emergence of the Taliban in
Afghanistan is likely to have invigorated UK terrorists, according to UK MI5
Director General Ken McCallum, who indicated yesterday that it might be a
morale boost for them.
According to mi5.gov.uk, MI5
stands for Military Intelligence, Section Five, the British Government’s
counterintelligence, and its duty is outlined under the Security Service Act
1989, which is to preserve national security, notably against threats such as
terrorism and espionage.
Furthermore, he added that
terrorists can regroup and devise well-developed and sophisticated plots,
noting that in the UK, 31 terror plots including religious and right-wing
terrorists, had been foiled in the last four years.
He added that ISIS had succeeded
in doing something that al-Qaeda had failed to do: Inciting a large number of
people to commit small-scale acts of terrorism. He stops short of describing a
lone wolf terrorist attack like the one that occurred recently in Auckland, New
Zealand, as such.
Taliban’s rise may have opened
the Pandora box for other terrorist groups to strategise by utilising
Afghanistan as a launching pad for attacks on other nations, by revisiting 9/11
and affect future security paradigm.
Afghanistan and the rest of
the world
New terrorist organisations
linked to al-Qaeda or ISIS have emerged in the Indian subcontinent and
Afghanistan, including al-Qaeda’s offshoot such as (AQIS), Jamaatul Ahrar,
Hizbul Ahrar, Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Taiba and ISIS Khorasan Province
(ISIS-K).
Of all the Islamic militant
groups in Afghanistan, ISIS-K (a branch of the multinational ISIS network) is
the most radical and violent. It staged a horrific strike near the Kabul
international airport a few weeks ago, killing over 170 people, including 13 US
soldiers.
ISIS-K considers Taliban members
to be apostates. The current Taliban administration faces a severe security
danger from this group.
The Haqqani network, which is
closely linked to the Taliban, is another of the world’s most wanted terrorist
organisations. This group is one of Afghanistan’s most experienced and
sophisticated insurgent organisations, according to The Institute for the Study
of War.
The current leader of the Haqqani
network is Siraj Haqqani, the son of the famed anti-Soviet militant Jalaluddin
Haqqani. Siraj is more radical than his father, with ties to al-Qaeda and other
foreign extremists in Pakistan. Across Afghanistan’s southeastern border of
Pakistan, the Haqqani network maintains a safe haven in North Waziristan.
A few days ago, the Taliban
announced the formation of an interim Government in Afghanistan, led by some of
the most wanted figures globally. Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, a Taliban
founder who is in the United Nation’s blacklist, is the leader of this
Government. The FBI-wanted commander of the Haqqani insurgent group, Sirajuddin
Haqqani, is now serving as the new acting interior minister.
These appointments have bolstered
belief that Afghanistan is reverting to its pre-2001 state, when it was
regarded as a haven for foreign terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda to
train their members and plot future terrorist attacks.
According to The Times newspaper
in the UK, two Malaysians are accused of being involved in the
Kabul bombings by ISIS-K. This is just another sign that foreign terrorist
fighters (FTFs) are resuming their efforts to re-establish their ostensibly
lost Caliphate.
Meanwhile, Rohullah Saleh, the
brother of former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh, was tortured and
executed by Taliban yesterday while escaping Panjshir, according to
republicworld.com. In the Panjshir Valley, the Northern Resistance Front (NRF)
and the Taliban are fighting a bloody battle.
The NRF’s leader, Ahmad Massoud,
urged the world community not to recognise Taliban’s administration since it
has killed innocent people, and the NRF claims to control 60% of Panjshir.
This is one another indicator
that the Taliban and NRF troops will continue to fight in a “civil” war. The
present Taliban-led administration has yet to be recognised by foreign powers,
including the US and the UK.
A report released last Thursday
by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) noted that nearly 97% of
Afghans may fall into poverty unless the country’s political and economic
problems are addressed. This means that Afghanistan is moving into a “grey
area” phase, in which the country will become unstable, allowing international
terrorist groups to use Afghanistan as a base in the near future.
Meanwhile, other foreign
terrorist organisations (FTO) recognised as terrorist groups by the US
Secretary of State under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(INA). ISIS-Philippines, ISIS-West Africa, ISIS-Greater Sahara, al-Ashtar
Brigades (AAB), Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), Harakat Sawa’d Misr
(HASM), ISIS-DRC, and ISIS-Mozambique.
The resurrection of al-Qaeda and
ISIS, as well as their affiliates, is alarming. Despite the fact that security
and intelligence agencies were successful in assassinating leaders of these
organisations, they were unable to eliminate their underlying ideology.
This crude ideology has been
adopted by sympathisers and followers of many terror organisations, with the
majority of them functioning as lone wolves to fulfil their “noble” goal of
murdering innocent people, like in the attack in Auckland.
Terrorist groups are resurfacing
due to their ideology’s tenacity. As a result, lone wolf terrorist attacks
become more visible. This form of attack becomes extremely difficult to detect
and may sometimes evade intelligence and security agencies’ surveillance.
In a nutshell, the world has become more perilous as a result of the rise of the Taliban, who now have a place to accommodate their “noble” deeds together with their ‘allies’. – Sept 11, 2021
Source: https://focusmalaysia.my/two-decades-after-911-how-terror-has-evolved-and-threatening-the-world-pt1/
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