“More than 100 people were killed, including at least 13 U.S. service members
and 90 Afghans, at the Kabul airport Thursday when two blasts ripped thr

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


August 27, 2021 

 

The Wall Street Journal: Kabul Airport Attack Kills 13 U.S. Service Members,
at Least 90 Afghans
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“More than 100 people were killed, including at least 13 U.S. service members
and 90 Afghans, at the Kabul airport Thursday when two blasts ripped through
crowds trying to enter the American-controlled facility, disrupting the final
push of the U.S.-led evacuation effort. A suicide bomb attack at the airport’s
Abbey Gate was followed by an assault by gunmen, officials said. Another bomb
attack took place nearby, at a hotel outside the airport, officials said.
Eighteen U.S. service members were injured, the Pentagon said. The attack
marked the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan since 2011, and
came just five days before the Biden administration’s deadline for the complete
military withdrawal from the country. The military expects more attacks, Marine
Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie told reporters. President Biden on Thursday evening
said he was heartbroken by the violence and vowed to retaliate for the attacks,
while promising to continue evacuation efforts. “We will hunt you down and make
you pay,” Mr. Biden said in remarks at the White House. He said he had
instructed his national security advisers to develop response plans to the
attack.”

 

USA Today: Capitol Police Officers Sue Trump, Extremists, Alleging Conspiracy,
Terrorism On Jan. 6
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“Seven officers from the United States Capitol Police are suing former
President Donald Trump, his longtime adviser Roger Stone and members of
far-right extremist groups, alleging they conspired to use violence Jan. 6 to
attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020
presidential election. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia on Thursday morning, alleges that Trump and the other
defendants conspired with one other through the use of force, threats and
intimidation that culminated in the attack on the Capitol. Officer Jason
DeRoche, an 18-year veteran of the Capitol Police and a Navy veteran, said the
civil lawsuit isn't about winning a financial settlement. Rather, he said, the
lawsuit aims to set the record straight about what happened Jan. 6 and make
sure history doesn't repeat itself. “We don't want something like this
happening ever again,” DeRoche said. He said he wants Trump and the other
defendants to be held accountable for what they did, so that “if they were to
do this ever again, there would be consequences.” Trump supporters clash with
police and security forces as people storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Joining
DeRoche in the lawsuit are six other veteran Capitol Police officers who have
each served 13 to 35 years at the department.”

 

United States

 

Madison.com: Cooperative Defendant Gets 6 1/4 Years In Prison In Extremist
Plot To Kidnap Michigan Governor
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“A man upset over state-ordered coronavirus restrictions was sentenced to just
over six years in prison Wednesday for planning to kidnap Michigan Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer, a significant break that reflected his quick decision to
cooperate and help agents build cases against others. Ty Garbin admitted his
role in the alleged scheme weeks after his arrest last fall. He is among six
men charged in federal court but the only one to plead guilty so far. It was a
key victory for prosecutors as they try to prove an astonishing plot against
the rest. One of the other five defendants is Brian Higgins, 52, of Wisconsin
Dells, who was charged in Michigan in October with one charge of providing
material support to a terrorist act. Higgins is accused of participating in the
plot to kidnap Whitmer by providing use of night-vision goggles and using a
dash cam to surveil the governor’s vacation home. Garbin apologized to Whitmer,
who was not in court, and her family. “I cannot even begin to imagine the
amount of stress and fear her family felt because of my actions. And for that I
am truly sorry,” the 25-year-old aviation mechanic told the judge. In his plea
agreement, Garbin said the six men trained at his property near Luther,
Michigan, constructing a “shoot house” to resemble Whitmer’s vacation home and
“assaulting it with firearms.”

 

Syria

 

Al Monitor: Taliban Takeover May Push Syrian Jihadis Toward Afghanistan
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“Jihadi factions in Syria are hailing the Taliban’s takeover of most of
Afghanistan. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which controls Syria’s northwestern
province of Idlib, congratulated the Taliban on their “conquest” in an Aug. 18
statement. Many other jihadi factions hostile to HTS followed suit, praising
what they described as a “victory” by the Taliban. A group known as Al-Jihad
Coordination, the Firqat al-Ghuraba battalion and Jund al-Sham issued separate
statements congratulating the Taliban movement on their advance. The
congratulatory statements came from groups many observers believed had been
eliminated. Instead they had been quietly avoiding persecution by HTS, which
has been cracking down on groups espousing ideologies similar to al-Qaeda's.
Al-Jihad Coordination is led by Abu al-Abd Ashidaa, who was arrested in 2019 by
HTS after having defected from it. He had opposed HTS’ approach and
disassociation from al-Qaeda. In an Aug. 16 statement the group said, “To our
people in beloved Afghanistan: You have reaped what you have sown. … On this
glorious occasion, we call upon all vanguards of the Ummah, the patient
mujahideen everywhere, to have patience and show steadfastness.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The New York Times: After Decades Of War, ISIS And Al Qaeda Can Still Wreak
Havoc
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“The nightmare that kept counterterrorism experts awake even before the
Taliban returned to power is that Afghanistan would become fertile ground for
terrorist groups, most notably Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Two explosions
claimed by the Islamic State that killed dozens of people, including at least
13 American service members, in Kabul on Thursday bolstered fears that the
nightmare was fast becoming a reality. “I can’t tell you how upsetting and
depressing this is,” said Saad Mohseni, the owner of Tolo, one of Afghanistan’s
most popular television channels. “It feels like it’s back to business as usual
— more bombings, more attacks, except that now we’re going to have to deal with
it all under a Taliban regime.” Twenty years of military action by the United
States and its international partners aimed at stamping out terrorism have
exacted major tolls on Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, killing many of their
fighters and leaders and largely preventing them from holding territory. But
both groups have proved able to adapt, terrorism experts say, evolving into
more diffuse organizations that continually seek out new global trouble spots
to take root and put their violent extremism into action.”

 

The Wall Street Journal: Inside The Hidden War Between The Taliban And ISIS
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“Two days before he was shot dead by the Taliban, Abu Omar Khorasani, a
onetime leader of Islamic State in Afghanistan, sat slumped in a dingy Afghan
prison interview room, waiting for his soon-to-be executioners. Mr. Khorasani
saw the Taliban’s advance as a harbinger for change. For years both
organizations had sworn to rid Afghanistan of nonbelievers. “They will let me
free if they are good Muslims,” he told The Wall Street Journal in an
interview. When Taliban fighters seized Kabul last week, they took control of
the prison, freed hundreds of inmates, and killed Mr. Khorasani and eight other
members of his terror group. Just as the Taliban has been fighting American
coalition forces in Afghanistan, it has been waging a separate but parallel war
against its rival Islamist group. On one side are the Taliban, who have
co-opted remnants of al Qaeda. On the other is the Afghan arm of Islamic State,
known as ISIS-K, which has sought to incorporate parts of Afghanistan into a
broader caliphate emanating from the Middle East. The Taliban, assisted at
times by other countries and U.S. coalition forces, were the winner in that
effort, defense officials say. ISIS-K has been driven from its enclaves in
Afghanistan and its fighters dispersed into hiding.”

 

NBC News: What Is ISIS-K? Islamic State Group's Affiliate Behind Kabul Airport
Attack
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“The terrorist group behind the Kabul suicide bombing Thursday that killed
U.S. Marines and dozens of others and derailed the ongoing Afghan evacuation is
a competitor of the Taliban — and even more extreme. The Islamic State
Khorasan, or ISIS-K, is the Afghan offshoot of the Islamic State terror group,
which publicly beheaded foreign journalists and inflicted brutalities on
captured Kurds and others in Iraq and Syria. “They have a higher proclivity to
target civilians they regard as infidels,” Seth G. Jones, a counterterrorism
expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of ISIS-K.
And the ISIS-K attack wasn’t just aimed at the Americans, it was also meant to
embarrass the Taliban, the experts said. “This attack will look bad to the
West, but it makes the Taliban look as if they are not in control of their own
environment,” said Raffaello Pantucci, senior fellow at the International
Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies in Singapore. “It undermines the idea that they
rule this place.” Based east of Kabul in the Kunar and the Nangarhar provinces
near the Pakistani border, ISIS-K had anywhere from 1,500 to 2,200 fighters
just three years ago, according to a study by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies from 2018.”

 

Texas News Today: Biden Says Those Cleared To Leave And Left Behind After Aug
31 Will Be HELPED To Evacuate By Taliban
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“…Retired senior British diplomat Ivor Roberts told VOA that assigning members
of the Haqqani network to oversee the security of Kabul is akin to the ‘fox
being put in charge of a chicken coop.’ Roberts, a senior adviser at the
Counter Extremism Project, a non-profit network that researches extremist
groups, said he was surprised at the move. ‘I thought from the PR point of
view, the Taliban was being a bit smarter than that,’ he said. ‘Instead,
they’re putting forward the worst elements of their loose coalition, which
sends a terrible signal to women, girls and civil society. And I think it
increases the possibility of Afghanistan becoming a breeding ground for
international terrorism again.’ He added: ‘I don’t think they will ever cut
ties with al-Qaeda. They’re deeply embedded with al-Qaeda and always have
been.’”

 

Daily Mail: Biden Says United States Believes The Taliban Will HELP Evacuate
Any Citizens Or Afghan Allies Left Behind After August 31 Withdrawal Date
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“…Retired senior British diplomat Ivor Roberts told VOA that assigning members
of the Haqqani network to oversee the security of Kabul is akin to the 'fox
being put in charge of a chicken coop.' Roberts, a senior adviser at the
Counter Extremism Project, a non-profit network that researches extremist
groups, said he was surprised at the move. 'I thought from the PR point of
view, the Taliban was being a bit smarter than that,' he said. 'Instead,
they're putting forward the worst elements of their loose coalition, which
sends a terrible signal to women, girls and civil society. And I think it
increases the possibility of Afghanistan becoming a breeding ground for
international terrorism again.' He added: 'I don't think they will ever cut
ties with al-Qaeda. They're deeply embedded with al-Qaeda and always have
been.'”

 

Nigeria

 

All Africa: Nigeria: Troops Foil Boko Haram Attack On Yobe Town, Kill Scores,
Capture Gun Truck, Arms <[link removed]>

 

“Troops of Sector 2 Joint Task Force North East Operation Hadin Kai have
foiled an attempted attack on Babangida town in Yobe State on Wednesday 25
August 2021 by Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province terrorists,
prowling for logistics replenishment. The criminals made a futile effort to
infiltrate the town but were met with a fierce counterattack from the vigilant
troops, forcing them to retreat in disarray. In the counter-attack, the gallant
troops captured one gun truck, one Dushka Anti Aircraft Gun, two AK 47 rifles
and unprimed Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) from the fleeing terrorists. A
statement by Brig Gen Onyema Nwachukwu, Director, Army Public Relations said
“Further exploitation by the troops is still ongoing”. “The dogged troops have
been commended by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya for their
vigilance and swiftness in countering the attack”. “He also encouraged them to
remain focused and avoid any form of distraction from the terrorists, who are
desperate to make face-saving moves, having suffered enormous depletion in
their ranks. “Law-abiding people of Yobe State and North East in general, are
assured of the Chief of Army Staff's determination to finally rout the Boko
Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province terrorists from their hideouts.”

 

Australia

 

The Guardian: NSW Judge Orders Neo-Nazi Be Kept In Prison Due To Posing
‘Unacceptable’ Terrorism Risk
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“A guns-obsessed neo-Nazi who talked about carrying out a mass shooting will
be kept behind bars when his weapons sentence expires. Radicalised white
supremacist Michael Holt “poses an unacceptable risk of committing a serious
terrorism offence if not either detained or supervised”, Justice Natalie Adams
said in the supreme court on Thursday. She ordered the 31-year-old be subject
to a 28-day interim detention order from 9 September, when his sentence for a
string of NSW firearm offences expires. His term for commonwealth offences
relating to child sexual abuse material expires one year later, while he is yet
to be sentenced for producing child abuse material found in his cell in March.
In making the interim order, Adams considered voluminous material on his
background, crimes and an assessment of the risks he poses. “Mr Holt remains on
the pathway toward an act of violent extremism, politically motivated violence
or terrorism,” the assessment concluded. Holt, whose tattoos include an Iron
Cross containing a swastika, “SS runes” and a death’s head, was found to have
supported violent extremism, politically motivated violence or terrorism while
in custody and in the community.”

 

Southeast Asia

 

The Sydney Morning Herald: Indonesia Ramps Up Anti-Terror Crackdown As Muslim
Nations Condemn Kabul Attacks
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“Security forces in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority nation,
will step up an anti-terror crackdown after the deadly attacks in Kabul claimed
by an Islamic State affiliate. There was strong condemnation from Muslim
nations on Friday of the blasts that killed at least 85 people, including 13 US
servicemen. Indonesia, home to 225 million Muslims, joined governments in
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in denouncing the suicide bombings
outside Kabul airport. Indonesia Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi had, in the
hours before the explosions, been in Qatar, where she met with representatives
of the Taliban in Doha. “I conveyed to the Taliban the importance of an
inclusive government in Afghanistan; respecting women’s rights; and ensuring
Afghanistan does not become a breeding ground for terrorist organisation and
activities,” she said. “Indonesia strongly condemns the terrorist attacks near
Kabul airport which killed dozens and injured many.” Saudi Arabia, meanwhile,
branded the attacks as “incompatible with all religious principles and moral
and human values”, Turkey slammed the “heinous attack in the strongest terms”
and Egypt decried it as “gruesome terrorism”.



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