“Taliban fighters took control of Kabul on Sunday, delivering the militant
Islamist group the prize it has long sought: authority over all of Afghanis

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


August 16, 2021 

 

The Washington Post: Afghan Government Collapses As Taliban Sweeps In, U.S.
Sends More Troops To Aid Chaotic Withdrawal
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“Taliban fighters took control of Kabul on Sunday, delivering the militant
Islamist group the prize it has long sought: authority over all of Afghanistan
as the Western-backed government collapsed, President Ashraf Ghani fled, and
the long-dominant American presence appeared to be coming to an abrupt and
chaotic end after nearly 20 years. The takeover of the sprawling capital city
had been years in the making, but was ultimately accomplished in a single day.
Insurgent fighters, fresh off their conquests in each of Afghanistan’s
provincial hubs over the previous week, faced little to no resistance as they
entered the city through its major traffic arteries Sunday morning. By evening,
the Taliban was giving television interviews in the lavish presidential palace,
just hours after Ghani had departed Afghanistan. A desperate exodus was
underway at the airport, with thousands of people clamoring to board flights.
And the Pentagon was speeding in additional troops to assist with the
withdrawal of U.S. personnel after the American flag was lowered from a
now-abandoned embassy. The footage of rifle-toting Taliban fighters occupying
the presidential palace and rolling up the Afghan national flag stood as a
defining image of a failed U.S. effort to transform Afghan society at the cost
of a trillion dollars and thousands of lives lost.”

 

Daily Mail: Banned Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary Is Using Encrypted Phone App
Telegram - Favoured By ISIS Terrorists - To Spread Poison Online
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“Hate preacher Anjem Choudary is secretly posting vile messages to his
followers on an encrypted smartphone app favoured by Islamic State terrorists,
The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The extremist imam, who called the 9/11
hijackers 'magnificent martyrs' and radicalised the killers of soldier Lee
Rigby, is sending messages on the Telegram app after he was banned by Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp for violating hate-speech rules. Choudary told
his Telegram followers last week that Britain is a 'police state' and preached
that Muslims are having their freedoms taken away 'under the guise of
counter-terrorism'. He also told of his love of Sharia law, writing: 'I am not
an advocate for liberty, freedom and democracy and believe that the Shari'ah
and Islam are a perfect and better way of life.' The father-of-five, who is on
a United Nations terrorist list, was jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2016
for inviting support for IS, but was released in 2018 after serving less than
half the sentence. He was freed on licence under strict conditions, which
included observing a night-time curfew at his home in Ilford, East London, and
not using social media or the internet. But these restrictions expired last
month and Choudary started preaching online again. The 54-year-old set up a new
Twitter account, which immediately attracted hundreds of followers, but it was
suspended after uproar from anti-extremism activists.”

 

United States

 

Associated Press: US Warns 9/11 Anniversary Could Inspire Extremist Attacks
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“The upcoming 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as well as approaching
religious holidays could inspire extremist attacks, the Department of Homeland
Security said in a terrorism alert issued Friday. DHS did not cite any specific
threats in the National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin. But it noted that
the U.S. is in a “heightened threat environment,” fueled by factors that
include violent extremists motivated by racial and ethnic hatred and resentment
of restrictions imposed during the pandemic. DHS issues the warnings to alert
the public as well as state and local authorities. They reflect intelligence
gathered from other law enforcement agencies. The bulletin is an extension of a
similar one issued in May that expired on the day the new one was issued. DHS
says domestic extremists remain a national threat priority for U.S. law
enforcement and will for at least the remainder of the year. The agency noted
that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula recently released the first
English-language edition of its Inspire magazine in four years, apparently to
mark the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The
anniversary and the approaching holidays “could serve as a catalyst for acts of
targeted violence,” it said.”

 

Iraq

 

Voice Of America: Iraqi PM Vows to Target Terrorists Attacking Electricity Grid

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“Iraq's top military commander and prime minister say they have a plan to stop
Islamic State terrorists from creating more power blackouts. Iraqi state TV
reported Saturday that four IS terrorists had been captured in the regions of
Kirkuk, Nineveh, Salaheddin and Anbar province, in the wake of recent attacks
on the country's electricity grid, including one Friday that left a large swath
of Baghdad without water. Interior Ministry spokesman General Saad Maan told
the TV service that security forces have had some success in foiling recent
attacks. He said 23 attempts to damage electricity pylons had been thwarted in
the past few days. Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi tweeted Friday that the
terrorists behind the recent attacks “do not wish the country well” and are
“becoming desperate in the face of Iraq's success in increasing electricity
production.” Iraqi military commander General Tahsin Khafaji told journalists
that a plan had been put in place to stop further attacks on the electricity
network. He said that military commanders would be held responsible for the
electricity lines and towers in their respective sectors. He said that any
failure would be investigated and that those responsible would be held
accountable.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Business Insider: Video Shows Thousands Of Prisoners, Reportedly Including
Islamic State And Al Qaeda Fighters, Freed From Kabul Jail By The Taliban
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“Thousands of inmates, including former Islamic State and al-Qaeda fighters,
were released from a prison on the outskirts of Kabul as the Taliban called for
a “peaceful transition” of power. Afghan government troops surrendered Bagram
airbase to the Taliban early on Sunday.  The base houses Pul-e-Charki prison,
which has around 5,000 prisoners. It is the largest in Afghanistan and
notorious for its poor conditions. A maximum-security cellblock held members of
al Qaeda and Taliban, said reports. Footage published by an independent Afghan
news agency, which supports the Taliban, appears to show militants letting the
inmates out. Local residents say they have also heard gunfire coming from the
facility, the BBC reported. The Taliban arrived on the outskirts of Kabul on
Sunday, several days after capturing other major cities in the country. Acting
Afghan Interior Minister Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal said the country will now have
a “peaceful transfer of power” to a transitional government led by the Taliban,
the Associated Press reported. Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani and Vice
President Amrullah Saleh have both already left the country, according to
Reuters. At the end of July, the United Nations warned that the threat from
terror groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda were expanding in Afghanistan.”

 

Pakistan

 

Associated Press: Pakistani Police: Attackers Target Truck In Karachi, Kill 9
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“Attackers targeted a truck in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Saturday
evening, killing at least nine people and wounding nine others, police said.
Javed Akbar Riaz, a senior police officer, said over 20 people, including women
and children, were riding in the truck, returning from a wedding ceremony when
the attack happened. Five women and four children were killed, said Qarar
Abbasi, a doctor at Karachi’s main hospital. Riaz said an initial investigation
suggests the attackers followed the truck and then threw hand grenades or some
sort of improvised explosive devices at one side of the truck. No one
immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The motive for the bombing
was not known, though police were quick to rule out sectarian violence. Karachi
police chief Imran Yaqub Minhas denounced the attack as an “act of terrorism”
as Pakistan marked Independence Day on Saturday. Earlier in the day, Pakistani
security forces killed three militants during a shootout following a militant
attack on a security patrol in the restive southwestern Baluchistan province,
the military said. In a brief statement, the military said there was an
exchange of gunfire after militants opened fire on a security vehicle near
Shahrig in the Loralai district.”

 

Egypt

 

Al Jazeera: Attack Kills Eight Egyptian Troops In Sinai
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“A roadside bomb exploded in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula,
killing eight members of Egypt’s security forces, including an officer, while
six others were wounded. The troops were riding an armoured vehicle when the
bomb went off in New Rafah, a town on the border with the Gaza Strip, said
officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised
to speak to the media. The wounded, who suffered serious injuries, were
transferred to a military hospital in the nearby Mediterranean city of el-Arish
late on Thursday. The armed group ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the
attack in a statement on an ISIL-affiliated website. In a similar attack last
month, ISIL fighters ambushed a checkpoint in the town of Sheikh Zuweid,
killing at least five troops and wounding at least six others. Egypt has been
battling armed groups in northern Sinai for years. Violence and instability
there intensified after the 2013 military coup that removed Mohamed Morsi, an
elected but divisive president, amid nationwide protests against his brief
rule. The fighters have carried out numerous attacks, mainly targeting Egyptian
security forces, minority Christians, and those who they accuse of
collaborating with the military and police.”

 

Nigeria

 

The Wall Street Journal: 1,000 Boko Haram Militants Surrender, Two Chibok
Girls Walk Free
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“More than 1,000 Boko Haram members and their hostages surrendered to the
Nigerian government, including two high-school students who were kidnapped
seven years ago from the town of Chibok, in what security officials and
mediators called a new chapter in Nigeria’s decadelong conflict. Ruth Pogu and
Hassan Adamu, who were abducted in 2014 along with 274 other schoolgirls in
what prompted the global #BringBackOurGirls campaign, emerged from the jihadist
group’s Sambisa forest hideout in recent days, alongside men who called
themselves their “husbands” and children born in captivity. The fighters
surrendered amid a surge in fighting between Boko Haram and its rival, Islamic
State West Africa Province. Another woman, taken last year from Chibok, was
with them. Now in the custody of Nigeria’s intelligence agency, the women were
being debriefed. Ms. Pogu was taken to the regional capital Maiduguri on Sunday
and briefly allowed to see her family. The development appears to mark a new
chapter in a war that has left more than 35,000 people dead and uprooted more
than two million. In May, Boko Haram’s longtime leader, Abubakar Shekau, died
after a confrontation with Iswap.”

 

Voice Of America: Five Children Killed By Grenade Blast In NE Nigeria
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“Five children were killed when a disused grenade they were playing with
exploded outside the northeast Nigerian town of Ngala, near the border with
Cameroon, militiamen told AFP Friday. “The five children picked up the
explosive while herding in a field outside the town and it exploded in their
hands as they were playing with it,” anti-jihadist militiaman Umar Kachalla
said. “Two of them died on the spot while the other three died in hospital in
Mada, inside Cameroon,” he said. Another militiaman, Umar Ari, gave a similar
account of the incident, which happened on Thursday. In August 2014, the Boko
Haram jihadist group seized Ngala along with the nearby trading hub of Gamboru.
The two towns were recaptured in September 2015 by Nigerian troops with the
help of Chadian forces following a months-long offensive. Ari said unexploded
mines and grenades from the conflict still litter the surrounding countryside
and many children had been killed or injured. In December 2019, nine people
were killed and 26 injured when an explosive device went off on a crowded
bridge linking Gamboru and Fotokol. Residents blamed the explosion on a grenade
disguised as toy that, they said, had been given to some children as a gift by
a Boko Haram insurgent.”

 

Africa

 

Voice Of America: Cameroon Creates, Trains Militias Against New Terrorism
Ideology
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“Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has sent his top military officials and a
governor to reactivate old militias and create new ones to combat terrorism on
the central African state’s northern border with Nigeria. The militias are, for
the first time, to tell people about what the government says is a new strategy
by the Islamic State in West Africa Province, or ISWAP, to attract supporters
away from rival Boko Haram through gifts of food and money, and attacking only
military positions, unlike Boko Haram, which attacked schools and other
civilian targets. About 30 people, most of them youths, sing in Mora that Boko
Haram is a capricious terrorist group. The singers call for caution in all
villages on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, where, they say, jihadist
groups have relaunched activity. Abdoul Oumar is coordinator of nine militia
groups fighting Boko Haram terrorism in Mora, a town on the border with
Nigeria's Borno state. Nigeria says Borno is an epicenter of the jihadist
group. Oumar said the number of jihadists infiltrating villages in Mora within
the past three months is increasing. Oumar said militias that were discouraged
by the lack of flashlights, motorcycles, telephones, bows and arrows, and guns
to fight terrorists will now be able to resume work.”

 

Financial Times: Muhammadu Buhari: Africa Needs More Than US Military Aid To
Defeat Terror <[link removed]>

 

“Though some believe the war on terror winds down with the US departure from
Afghanistan, the threat it was supposed to address burns fiercely on my
continent. Africa is the new frontline of global militancy. Yet few expect the
outlay expended here to be as great as in Afghanistan. The fight against
terrorism begun under the George W Bush administration was never truly global.
Despite rising attacks across Africa in the past decade, international
assistance has not followed in step. Mozambique is merely the latest African
state in danger from terrorism. The Sahel remains vulnerable to Boko Haram, 20
years after its formation, and other radical groups. Somalia is in its second
decade fighting the equally extreme al-Shabaab. Many African nations are
submerged under the weight of insurgency. As Africans, we face our day of
reckoning just as some sense the west is losing its will for the fight. It is
true that some of our western allies are bruised by their Middle Eastern and
Afghan experiences. Others face domestic pressures after the pandemic. Africa
was not then, and even less now, their priority. But the threat cannot be
ignored. Covid-19 has been like oxygen for terrorism, allowing it to gain in
strength while the world was preoccupied.”

 

United Kingdom

 

BBC News: Right-Wing Extremist Guilty Of Terrorism Offence
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“A “right-wing extremist” is facing jail after being found guilty of
possessing a bomb-making instruction manual. Ben John, 21, was convicted of
having a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook on a computer hard drive. Lincolnshire
Police said the “radical publication” was found alongside “a wealth of white
supremacist and anti-Semitic material”. John, of Addison Drive, Lincoln, was
convicted after a trial at Leicester Crown Court and is due to be sentenced on
31 August.  Police said John had first come to the attention of
counter-terrorism officers in 2018 after he wrote a letter entitled 'Eternal
Front – Lincolnshire Fascist Underground’. He was arrested in January 2020, and
later charged with offences under the Terrorism Act, including possessing
documents on combat, homemade weapons and explosives. The force said John had
become part of the Extreme Right Wing (XRW) online - a term for activists who
commit criminal activity motivated by a political or cultural view, such as
racism or extreme nationalism. He was convicted by a jury on Thursday of one
count of possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist. He was
cleared of six other counts of the same offence. Addressing John, Judge Timothy
Spencer said he was now “a convicted terrorist.”

 

Australia

 

The Age: The Thin Line Between Neo-Nazi Cosplay And Real Terrorism
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“Terrorism has fallen down the list of global threats during the COVID-19
outbreak but in an uncertain world, it cannot be forgotten entirely. As the
Herald reports today, extremist groups who identify as neo-Nazis are finding
plenty of recruits here in Australia and counter-terrorism agencies are
increasingly concerned. The risk from these fringe white supremacist, racist
groups has moved to the fore as the danger of Islamist terrorist groups – such
as Islamic State – has receded, although the Taliban’s resurgence in
Afghanistan suggests the need for continued vigilance. It was only two years
ago that Australian Brenton Tarrant murdered 51 people in a mass shooting at
two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand. A group of young people in a range
of rich Western countries seems increasingly drawn to a poisonous narrative
that immigrants, and their progressive allies, are submerging traditional white
society, and that they must be stopped with violence. In 2011, Anders Breivik,
a self-styled neo-Nazi, murdered 77 people in Norway. There were white
supremacist overtones in the assault on the US Capitol in Washington DC on
January 6. While everyone agrees that these acts of terror are appalling, it is
harder to know how to respond to the wider ecosystem of ultra-right websites
and the social organisations that nurtures them.”

 

Technology

 

The Wall Street Journal: Homeland Security Considers Outside Firms To Analyze
Social Media After Jan. 6 Failure
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“The Department of Homeland Security is considering hiring private companies
to analyze public social media for warning signs of extremist violence,
spurring debate within the agency over how to monitor for such threats while
protecting Americans’ civil liberties. The effort, which remains under
discussion and hasn’t received approval or funding, would involve sifting
through large flows of internet traffic to help identify online narratives that
might provide leads on developing attacks, whether from home or abroad. The
initiative comes after the nation’s intelligence community failed to
sufficiently identify and share signs of the threats that led to the assault on
the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6.”



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