In The News

The Geography of Terrorism

Kathy Gilsinan November 21, 2014
Nearly 18,000 people died in terrorist attacks in 2013 and more than 80 percent were from five countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria – reports the Global Terrorism Index, based on data from the University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database and reported on by Kathy Gilsinan for the Atlantic. The index suggests a 60 percent jump in terrorism deaths over the previous year...

Threat for India: Islamic State, Al Qaeda and Taliban

Saroj Kumar Rath November 20, 2014
India's Muslims represent 15 percent of the nation's population, the world's third largest group in any nation after Indonesia and Pakistan. Extremist groups like the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Haqqani network increasingly view India as a target, notes author and professor Saroj Kumar Rath. Several trends explain the rise: Terrorism threats in South Asia are...

The Lost Children: France Takes Stock of Growing Jihadist Problem

Julia Amalia Heyer November 19, 2014
In regulating immigration, policy planners anticipate newcomers to assimilate, especially over generations. Most do, but children of immigrant families long settled in France are often intrigued by jihad. Julia Amalia Heyer profiles a French family – the mother atheist and the father Muslim – whose 17-year-old daughter traveled to Antakya on the Turkish-Syrian border and then called home to...

How Social Media Is Helping Islamic State to Spread Its Poison

Con Coughlin November 11, 2014
Exposure of top-secret, massive US surveillance operations by Edward Snowden – and subsequent efforts by companies like Twitter, Facebook, Google and Apple to counter the surveillance – is aiding the Islamic State, contends Con Coughlin for the Telegraph. “Aided by the increased use of encryption software by the leading internet service providers, terrorist groups such as the Islamic State … have...

Interview with an Islamic State Recruiter: “Democracy Is For Infidels”

Hasnain Kazim October 31, 2014
A few military successes by Islamic State terrorists in chaotic Iraq and Syria attract extremists from around the globe. Hasnain Kazim interviewed one recruiter in Turkey for Spiegel Online. The recruiter claims that the Islamic State can be highly selective, secretly interviewing applicants arriving in Turkey to assess motives and religious beliefs – exactly how far each will go in obeying...

Specter of Islamic State Looms Over Pakistan

Farhan Bokhari October 30, 2014
After conquering towns in Iraq and Syria, and now under air attack in those same places, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is no doubt searching for additional recruits and countries in chaos. Sunnis represent about 90 percent of Muslims, and the Islamic State promotes an extreme version. The terrorist group could turn to Sunni extremists in Pakistan next – perhaps part of an effort to...

Syrians to Be Trained to Defend Territory, Not Take Ground From Jihadists, Officials Say

Rajiv Chandrasekaran October 24, 2014
One measure of military success is installation of sustainable and stable governance. But that seems unlikely in the chaotic Middle East. The United States is leading a coalition to fight the Islamic State, which has terrorized communities with beheadings and even reports of chemical attacks. The United States has limited its intervention to air attacks in Syria and Iraq. The plan is to identify...