Militant Competition

Militant groups often use violence, perversely, to gain attention and resources. In this book, the authors analyze how terrorist and rebel organizations compete with one another to secure funding and supporters. The authors develop a strategic model of competitive violence among militant groups and test the model's implications with statistical analysis and case studies. A series of model extensions allow the authors to incorporate the full range of strategic actors, focusing in particular on government efforts to counter and deter violence. The results indicate that the direct effects of competition are not as clear as they may seem, and interventions to alter competitive incentives may backfire if states are not careful. This is a timely contribution to a growing body of political economy research on militant group fragmentation, rivalry, fratricide and demonstrative violence.

Maldives will manage militancy and virus risks

Significance The attempted assassination involved a remote-controlled device, signalling new capabilities among local militant groups. Separately, the Maldives has recently had a sharp rise in its COVID-19 outbreak, although daily new cases are now on a broadly downward trajectory. The country reopened its economically vital tourism industry in July 2020 following a pandemic-related shutdown. Impacts Recently imposed restrictions on inbound travel from other South Asian countries may cause tourism arrivals to fall this month. Islamist groups will focus on state targets in any further attacks that they plan. The ruling party, of which Nasheed is the president, will struggle to accelerate the reform agenda that it champions.

US-TALIBAN PEACE TALKS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Purpose: The study explores the after-effects of US-Taliban peace talks and how these can bring peace in decades' long war-wracked Afghanistan. It also investigates whether or not the ever-widening trust deficit between the stakeholders be bridged through these talks and in the future, Afghan soil will never be used for transnational activities. How can these talks neutralize and influence militant groups to join mainstream politics? Methodology: Relevant data were collected from newspaper articles, editorials, websites, journals, research reports, and magazines and minutely analyzed. The research is qualitative and explanatory cum exploratory in nature. Analytical techniques were utilized to evaluate data on the outcomes of the Doha-based US-Taliban peace talks. Main Findings: The study finds that it's easy to conclude table talks but hard to implement on the ground. Decades' long trust deficit will not come to an end until and unless all the stakeholders move forward positively. Intra-Afghan dialogue is the most important step to bring the political instability to an end and constitutional accommodation be made accordingly to space all these in mainstream politics. Applications: Findings of the study, to some extent, will be fruitful for the stakeholders to prioritize the steps to bring peace to Afghanistan. It also cautions regional and international actors to pursue their interests without using the soil of Afghanistan for seditious activities in rival countries. Novelty: The study is unique in the sense that it explores the ways and means through which decades’ long trust deficit can be bridged by looping into the stakeholders for lasting peace to Afghanistan and the region.

Al Qaeda and Taliban Nexus: Trends in Terrorism in Pakistan

Pakistan is located in a volatile region where non-state actors are involved in sabotage activities at large. For the last four decades, Afghanistan remained the epicenter of militant activities in the region as well as in the rest of the world. Before 9/11, dozens of militant groups have found this land a safe haven for their terrorist activities and threaten the peace of the region at large. Pakistan is the most affected country in the world inter of human and financial loss. Due to the Afghan crisis, thousands of militants shifted their activities towards FATA and the rest of the country. Taliban and Al Qaeda are the two important groups who have martyred thousands of innocent people in Pakistan, especially Pashtun, and damaged the already vulnerable economy further. This paper will analyze the factors responsible for the nexus of the militant group and also their effect on Pakistan.

In defence of Islam: How the Islamic State justifies violence

This chapter applies a framework for analysing the psychology of persuasion to an Islamic State (IS) video on the fall of its last village. Militant groups such as IS have established media campaigns, but little work to date has examined how such media incites people. Understanding cultural justifications of violence helps psychiatrists to determine whether an individual’s violent behaviours represent abnormal behaviours within a social group and can be classified as those that require social, health, or criminal justice intervention. The mechanisms of psychological persuasion in IS’s Arabic video ‘Meanings of Constancy—Wilāyat Al-Shām, Al-Barakah’ include invoking authority by citing the Quran, drawing contrasts between Muslim believers and non-Muslim disbelievers, casting militants as likeable, and presenting audiovisual footage of IS’s enforcement of morality, the military blockade of its last village, and the suffering of children. This framework facilitates comparisons across militant groups and how mechanisms of persuasion evolve within the same group to generate policy-relevant scholarship.

Repertoires of Terror: News Media Classification of Militant Groups, 1970 to 2013

The authors examine how print news media classify militant groups as terrorist. Drawing on a relational view of news media and contentious politics, the authors develop a theory of repertoires of contention and classification. The authors argue that news media interpret the social standing of actors from the categories implied by the tactics they use and that variation in tactical repertoires explains the variation in classification among different groups and within individual groups over time. Using newly collected annual data on media coverage of 746 groups across 589,779 news articles from 1970 through 2013, statistical analyses support the authors’ argument. Moreover, consistent with scholarship on the evolution of political violence, the authors show that the effects of repertoires are sensitive to historical developments and vary in relation to key events, further supporting a relational repertoire view of the classification of terrorism.

Terrorist Threats in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Cоmparative Analysis

The article is devoted to analysis of terrorist threats in Afghanistan and Pakistan, identifies their similar external and essential characteristics. Afghanistan is remarkable for the highest level of terrorist threats. Drivers of terrorist activity are the Taliban insurgency, more than 20 radical Islamist groups affiliated with Al-Qaida and partly with ISIL. Relying on the Afghan Taliban cooperation, Al-Qaida tries to regain its position in Afghanistan. Radical groups, consisting of foreign terrorist fighters are active in eastern, north-eastern and northern provinces of Afghanistan. Strengthening of the radical groups in the northern part of Afghanistan is a potential threat to the states of Central Asia. It can encourage the dissemination of extremist ideology in the region. Despite heavy casualties, ISIL tries not to lean back in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s security is tied with the situation in Afghanistan. The terrorist elements operating in Af-Pak region always played a major role in destabilization of the country. The paper also highlights that increasing presence of militant groups in Pakistan contributed to the deepening of religious differences in Pakistani society. The presence of the supporters of Al-Qaida in the region also complicates the security situation in Pakistan. The author emphasizes existing trend of cultivation of extremist ideologies to get political support of conservative hardliners and to flirt with extremist groups in Pakistan’s ruling circles. In recent years Islamabad could decrease the level of terrorist threats in Pakistan by conducting major military operations.