The author begins with a descript narrative of the warfare that goes on within the Middle East. A picture is painted of the area in which much of the military activity is conducted. The way that the author portrays Waziristan is as a desolate wasteland, “Outside the towns, there are few signs of modern life -- no power lines or telephone poles. Occasional herds of goats drift past, shepherded by nomadic tribes searching for water…” (Gannon). From this description one would be led to believe that Waziristan is a place that is a military dominated desert, void of modern necessities. This area is described as the ideal hub for al-Qaida, Afghan, and Pakistani allied militaries to gather, train, and prepare for war battles. Due to the fact that
The Battle of Kamdesh was fought in Afghanistan during the Afghan War. It is an occurrence in the ongoing NATO campaign of the Operation Enduring Freedom since the year 2001. It was one of the bloodiest battles the USA forces engaged in during this campaign against the Taliban insurgents. The Taliban insurgents, assisted by local Nuristan militias, attacked Kamdesh, which is an American combat outpost, located deep in the Nuristan tribal Areas. They carried out a well-coordinated attack on the outpost, leading to a breach and an overrun of the post. This paper, seeks to analyze why, when, how, and what were the resulting impact of the battle.
Likewise, Goodwin illustrates how the use of categorical terrorism can be seem being used by Al-Qaida during the attacks of 9/11. Nonetheless, it is evident that Al-Qaida is unusual in terms of using terrorism to influence the rise of unity rather than trying to overthrow a standing state. For the purpose of instigating a pan-Islamic revolutionary movement, Al-Qaida tries to unite all Islamic people under one state to develop umma, or Muslim community. The logic of Al-Qaida remained that if their “revolutionaries” could illicit a reaction from the powerful US state, resulting in oppression of the middle-eastern region, that Al-Qaida could, as a result, unite all Muslims to counter this suggested oppression. Although the end goal of Al-Qaida clear failed, it does suggest the organization’s attempt at implementing categorical terrorism.
McCutcheon, Priscilla. “Returning Home to Our Rightful Place: The Nation of Islam and Muhammad Farms,” Elsevier (2013): 61-70 doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.05.001
For approximately the past three decades, a terrorist group has come to plague the world with its activities (Gunaratna, 2002). This group is known as Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda, when translated means “The Base”. It is a terrorist organization that seeks to remove western influence from the Middle East and spread its radical Islamic views. Al Qaeda’s most prominent leader was Osama bin Laden, until his death during a raid upon his compound in Pakistan. The Al Qaeda’s motivation stems primarily from extreme and deeply rooted religious beliefs. Their most used method of attack is through suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices. This organization has also used chemical warfare and at this time is believed to still actively seek to utilize chemical and biological agents as means to battle.
Jalali, Ali Ahmad, and Lester W. Grau. Afghan Guerrilla Warfare - In the Words of the Mujahideen Fighters. St. Paul: MBI Publishing Company, 2001.
In the post Osama bin Laden era al-Qaedist ideology is flourishing across the Arab world. A significant development has been the rise of al-Qaeda offshoots in the Middle East. The Abdallah Azzam Brigades franchise has increasingly become a noteworthy actor in terrorism. On May 8th, 2012 Thomas Nides, Deputy Secretary of State designated Abdallah Azzam Brigades as a foreign terrorist organization (Nides, T.R. , 2012). Abdullah Azzam Brigades may have only recently been added as a foreign terrorist group; nevertheless the organization has deep roots, lethal capacity, and is capable of contributing to supplementary instability in the Middle East.
Von Knop, Katharina. (2007). The Female Jihad: Al Qaeda’s Women. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 397-414.
Sageman, Marc. "The Journal of International Security Affairs The Normality of Global Jihadi Terrorism 2005th ser. Spring.9 (2005). .
The article “Officials: Al Qaeda tries to recruit Americans in Syria” is about how Al Qaeda is encouraging fighters in Syria to prepare them in the case that they will return home to carry out attacks. They are prepared to send the fighters home by train. There...
mujahideen in casualties.” The goals of this essay is to provide an understanding into the
Leenders, Reinoud. "Regional Conflict Formations': Is the Middle East Next? ." Third World Quarterly 28.5 (2007): 959-982. JSTOR. Web. 5 June 2011.
According to Marten, warlords are “individuals who control small pieces of territory using a combination of force and patronage” and that they “rule in defiance of genuine state sovereignty but through the complicity of state leaders” (Marten 3). After a brief overview, she then examines the case of warlords in the Pakistani region of FATA, an area that divides the rest of Pakistan from Afghanistan (Marten 32). This region is prominent for its hostile tribal groups and instability because of its division between Afghanistan and Pakistan (both weak states on a global scale) (Marten 36). These tribal leaders were given their power to be warlords by the Pakistani state, to govern and maintain stability in an otherwise “ungovernable” region (Marten 16-17). The idea behind this case is the trade-off between a false sense of short-term stability and long-term development of this region. State officials gave these warlords protection and leeway in return for security along the vulnerable border. Although stability is evident in this region by allowing warlords...
Currie, Stephen. "Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda." Terrorists and Terrorist Groups. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002. 69-83. Print.
Al Qaeda is an international terrorist organization that was founded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1980s in Peshawar, Pakistan. The name is Arabic for “The Base of Operation” or “method” (Burke 2004). However, many experts agree that al-Qaeda is more dangerous as an ideology than as an organization. As an organization, it has been weakened by fragmentation, arrests, and deaths of the top leaders. This has caused the structure of the organization to be destroyed, resulting in the lack of a central hub for the militant group. One thing that remains is the ideology, which is fueled mainly by a hatred of Western, Zionist, and Semitic cultures and beliefs (Burke 2004). As a result, many people may not be directly part of the al Qaeda network or even directly linked to bin Laden. Due to their common views and beliefs of Western culture, militant groups loosely associated to al Qaeda have been formed, carrying on the original objectives that bin Laden had in mind when he created this organization.
As the title of this paper states, “How our World is Changing” our world is constantly changing. Our world changes everyday without most of us ever seeing or noticing any changes, but as we look back in history we can see some tremendous changes. As history is studied these changes become apparent and truly jump out and become real.