In the current 21st century, Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO’s) have arisen in abundance throughout the world. These organizations do not only wreak havoc in their own region, but they proceed to terrorize the lives of civilians and political figures in foreign nations as well. An organization that the United States could consider a terroristic threat may not be considered a threat to another nation; this international dilemma generally correlates with the nation in questions definition of terrorism, based off of the social context and the social construct (the way people view reality) in that particular nations region at the time. A social context can be described as “the historical, political and criminological circumstances at a given point in time” (White, 2012 p. 4). Based upon what is occurring in a country at a particular time, often determines what they consider terrorist organizations. Throughout the last decade the United States has been confronted with many terrorist threats evolving from the Middle East, Africa, Russia, and several others. One group that has emerged as a dangerous threat to the U.S, from the Middle East, is the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani Network is increasingly dangerous and shows no sign of lessening, as of 2008; “three out of the four most spectacular terrorist attacks occurring in Afghanistan have been carried out by the Haqqani Network” (Dupee, 2008).
Emerging in the early 1970’s the Haqqani Network is a highly robust organization with a superior financial capability, this alone separates them from the rest. The Haqqani Network is technically subsumed under the umbrella of the ‘Taliban’, however the Haqqani family controls and operates their organization solely upon themselves and shoul...
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...in the Middle East. In order to successfully dispose of the organization the U.S must slow down its troops withdrawals from the region, in order to show that it plans to be there and have an impact, as well as negotiating with the Afghan government to help ensure that the Taliban take part in political processes. Getting joint support from surrounding Afghan regions and keeping constant pressure on the network is the best route of action in combating the organization. One thing that is for certain is if Pakistani intelligence services continue to back the Haqqani Network, Haqqani will “become the most significant long-term strategic threat to stability in Afghanistan” (Dressler, 2007). The United States has spent years in Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East and it is starting to look like we may never figure out how the barbarous game we call war is played.
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States was incredibly eager to strike back at the nations thought to be responsible for this horrific tragedy. These attacks were quickly attributed to the terrorist group al-Qa’ida, led by Osama bin Laden, and to the Taliban-run government of Afghanistan, which had provided sanctuary to al-Qa’ida. In response, Washington approved a covert plan led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to directly attack those responsible in their Middle East safe haven. Initiated on 26 September 2001 with the approval of the warlords of the Afghan Northern Alliance, with whom the CIA had formed an intelligence liaison relationship, Operation Jawbreaker resulted in the fall of the Taliban regime, the killing and capture of a significant amount of al-Qa’ida leadership, and elimination of a terrorist safe haven by early December 2001. Moreover, the Taliban’s collapse denied al-Qa’ida a pseudo-nation-state partner, serving to reduce the organization’s sanctuary to areas residing along the Pakistani border. Operation Jawbreaker, one of the first post-9/11 covert operations carried out by the United States in support of its national security interests, had proved successful. Word of the operation’s swift success astounded those back in Washington; dubbed the CIA’s “finest hour,” it signified the first of many victories by deposing the Taliban’s control of Northern Afghanistan.
Due to the ethnocentrism of American culture and ideas, the tribal group known as the Taliban may seem like a sociological disgrace to law-abiding citizens of the United States. The Taliban is made up of Pakistanis and Afghans who are said to be the “Holy Warriors of Allah” and rigidly adhere to a set of standards set out by the prophet Mohammed himself. They are considered one of the most radical groups that exist in the world today and are looked upon as dishonorable and even appalling by less radical Muslims. However, the reality is that the group has its own culture, sociological structure, and interactions which are simply different than those of the United States.
Schweitzer, Y., & Shay, S. (2003). The globalization of terror: The challenge of al-qaida and the response of the international community. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
"The Taliban." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Gale Cengage Learning, 2010. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. .
In My Forbidden Face, Latifa explains how the Taliban are waging a cultural war against Western values. The Taliban’s goal in Kabul is to secure the environment where purity of people, especially of women, may be sacred again. However, in the book, Latifa discusses many issues that the people from Kabul experience at the hands of the Taliban such as the plight of women and men’s struggles, their views on news, media, and art, people’s education, and their religion. Throughout the book, the methods that the Taliban reinforce are very unreasonable, which leads to violence.
...h Muslim “clerics” (Ottaway) unaware of modern diplomacy and skeptical of the Western world, and they were unsuccessful in taking the advantage of cracks in the Taliban governance. A former CIA station chief said that the CIA did not hear anything the Taliban Representative said. The US Government wanted Osama Bin-Laden from them and they were asking for the help to give him up; two different tone of language- meaning it was hard for both representatives to understand each other’s wants and needs. The conferences took place in many different places like Kandahar, Islamabad, Tashkent, Bonn, Washington and New York. There were satellite conversations that took about 40-minute between State Department officials and the Taliban's top leader, Mohammad Omar. There was also a surprise visit to Washington, made by a Taliban representative giving a carpet to President Bush.
The United States Military though has problems in the country and has been having these problems since the invasion. Training Afghan forces and fighting the Taliban has not been working and is not efficient. We are trying to win the hearts and minds of the people but when the Taliban are blowing up schools and hospitals, winning those hearts and minds is a challenge. “Americans are used to be successful and these wars are not” announces Mark Lytle (Hampson). Americans are being worn down and soon will be on the verge of giving up, something Al Qaeda wants, and we are letting our enemy win this war. Afghanistan though also has ethnic problems. There are several divisions in Afghanistan, different tribes different ethnic background. The concept of majority rule has not been sitting well. The Afghan Government is corrupt and is not efficient enough to rule effectively. “The sooner we accept that Afghanistan ...
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines terrorism as “the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal” (“Terrorism”). Terrorism is a problem that all countries should be concerned with. Canada has been one of the countries that are concerned with the safety of people against terrorist attacks. Canada is very concerned with the issue of terrorism, it has a very specific position of counter-terrorism, it believes that violent extremists are the leading cause of terrorism, it has ways that the international community should respond, and it is willing to contribute to make the problem of terrorism end.
Herman, E. & Sullivan, G. O.1989. The Terrorism Industry: The Experts and Institutions That Shape Our View of Terror. New York: Pantheon.
United States starts fighting terrorism in Afghanistan by overthrowing Taliban (Terrorist Organization). Tried to support Pakistan and Afghanistan people by bringing their Force into their countries to end war. When Osama Bin Laden was killed, it was a big victory for the US to change everything and not weaken Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has a mission to overthrow all American troops from the land of Muslim countries. Here I recommend the United States to leave Muslim countries in their own way and do not intervene in their foreign policies and other internal decisions, if they really want to end up in a war on terror.
The threat of global terrorism continues to rise with the total number of deaths reaching 32,685 in 2015, which is an 80 percent increase from 2014 (Global Index). With this said, terrorism remains a growing, and violent phenomenon that has dominated global debates. However, ‘terrorism’ remains a highly contested term; there is no global agreement on exactly what constitutes a terror act. An even more contested concept is whether to broaden the scope of terrorism to include non-state and state actors.
Kushner, H., 1998. Terrorism in America; A Structured approach to understanding the terrorist threat. United States: Charles Thomas Publishers.
On September 11, 2001, the destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon changed the mindset and the opinion of nearly every American on the one of the most vital issues in the 21st century: terrorism (Hoffman 2). Before one can begin to analyze how the United States should combat such a perverse method of political change, one must first begin to understand what terrorism is, where it is derived from, and why there is terrorism. These issues are essential in America’s analysis of this phenomenon that has revolutionized its foreign policy and changed America’s stance in the world.
Terrorism has many forms, and many definitions. “Elements from the American definitional model define terrorism as a premeditated and unlawful act in which groups or agents of some principal engage in a threatened or actual use o...
Terrorism is one of the most extensively discussed issues of our time and at the same time it is also one of the least understood. The term itself “terrorism” means many different things to different people, cultures, and races. As a result, trying to define or classify terrorism with one universal definition is nearly impossible. The definition of terrorism used in this research is a reflection of much of the Western and American way of defining it. The definition of terrorism is,