WHO IS RESPONSIBLE for the TALIBAN? by Michael Rubin*

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE for the TALIBAN? by Michael Rubin* WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TALIBAN? By Michael Rubin* Abstract: The September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington refocused sustained American attention on Afghanistan for the first time since the Soviet invasion ended. The origin and rise of the Taliban became a subject of great interest. The U.S.-backed mujahidin from the era of the Soviet occupation and the Taliban, a movement developed a decade later, were fierce rivals. As such, the “blowback” argument—that Central Intelligence Agency policies of the 1980s are directly responsible for the rise of the Taliban—is inaccurate. It was Pakistan that backed radical Islamists to protect itself from Afghan nationalist claims on Pakistani territory, which Islamabad feared, might pull apart the country. Indeed, for independent Pakistan’s first three decades, nationalist “Pushtunistan” rhetoric from Afghanistan posed a direct threat to Pakistani territorial integrity. As the United States prepared for war subsequent transformation into a safe-haven against Afghanistan, some academics or for the world’s most destructive terror journalists argued that Usama bin Ladin’s al- network is a far more complex story, one Qa’ida group and Afghanistan’s Taliban that begins in the decades prior to the Soviet government were really creations of invasion of Afghanistan. American policy run amok. A pervasive myth exists that the United States was THE CURSE OF AFGHAN DIVERSITY complicit for allegedly training Usama bin Afghanistan’s shifting alliances and Ladin and the Taliban. For example, Jeffrey factions are intertwined with its diversity, Sommers, a professor in Georgia, has though ethnic, linguistic, or tribal variation repeatedly claimed that the Taliban had alone does not entirely explain these turned on “their previous benefactor.” internecine struggles. Afghanistan in its David Gibbs, a political science professor at modern form was shaped by the nineteenth- the University of Arizona, made similar century competition between the British, claims. Robert Fisk, widely-read Middle Russian, and Persian empires for supremacy East correspondent for The Independent, in the region. The 1907 Anglo-Russian wrote of “CIA camps in which the Convention that formally ended this “Great Americans once trained Mr. bin Ladin’s Game” finalized Afghanistan’s role as a fellow guerrillas.”(1) Associated Press writer buffer between the Russian Empire’s Mort Rosenblum declared that “Usama bin holdings in Central Asia, and the British Ladin…was the type of Soviet-hating Empire’s holdings in India. freedom fighter that U.S. officials applauded The resulting Kingdom of Afghanistan when the world looked a little different.”(2) was and remains ethnically, linguistically, In fact, neither bin Ladin nor Taliban and religiously diverse. Today, Pushtuns are spiritual leader Mullah Umar were direct the largest ethnic group within the country, products of the CIA. The roots of the but they represent only 38 percent of the Afghan civil war and the country’s population. An almost equal number of Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 1 (March 2002) 1 Michael Rubin Pushtuns live across the border in Pakistan’s with the Isma’ili communities “just across Northwest Frontier Province. Ethnic Tajiks the river,” despite the watchful guard of the comprise one-quarter of the population. The Russian 201st brigade. Hazaras, who generally inhabit the center of Many countries thrive on diversity. the country, represent another 19 percent. However, in the context of both Afghanistan Other groups—such as the Aimaks, and the civil war, the fact that most Turkmen, Baluch, Uzbek, and others identifiable Afghan groups have co-linguists, comprise the rest.(3) co-ethnics, or co-religionists across national Linguistic divisions parallel, and in some boundaries became a catalyst for the nation’s cases, overlap ethnic divisions. In addition collapse, as well as a major determinant in to Dari (the Afghan dialect of Persian that is the coalition-building during both the years the lingua franca of half the population) and of Soviet occupation and post-liberation the Pushtun’s own Pashtu, approximately ten struggle. For example, the Pushtuns of percent of the population speaks Turkic Kandahar have traditionally looked eastward languages like Uzbek or Turkmen. Several toward their compatriots in Pakistan, while dozen more regional languages exist.(4) the Persian-speakers of Herat have looked Tribal divisions further compound the westward into Iran. Uzbeks in Mazar-i Afghan vortex. The Pushtuns are divided Sharif have more in common with their co- among the Durrani, Ghilzai, Waziri, linguists in Uzbekistan than they have with Khattak, Afridi, Mohmand, Yusufzai, their compatriots in Kandahar. Shinwari, and numerous smaller tribes. In As various Afghan constituencies looked turn, each of these tribes is divided into toward their patrons across Afghanistan’s subtribes. For example, the Durrani are frontiers for support, they created an divided into seven sub-groups: the Popalzai, incentive for Afghanistan’s neighbors to Barakzai, Alizai, Nurzai, Ishakzai, Achakzai, involve themselves in internal Afghan and Alikozai. These, in turn, are divided affairs. The blame cannot be placed only on into numerous clans.(5) Zahir Shah, ruler of outside interference in Afghanistan, though, Afghanistan between 1933 and 1973, for the Afghan government has a long belongs to the Muhammadzai clan of the though often forgotten history of interfering Barakzai subtribe of the Durrani tribe. Such with the ethnic minorities in surrounding clan, subtribal, and tribal divisions countries and especially Pakistan. contribute already intense rivalries and divisions. DOWN THE SLIPPERY SLOPE Religious diversity further complicated Zahir Shah took the throne of internal Afghan politics and relations with Afghanistan in 1933 after the assassination neighbors. Once home to thriving Hindu, of his father, Nadir Shah. Zahir was not a Sikh, and Jewish communities as recently as strong leader, though. As Louis Dupree, the the mid-twentieth century, Afghanistan preeminent anthropologist of Afghanistan today is overwhelmingly Muslim. The vast observed, “King Mohammed Zahir Shah majority—84 percent—are Sunni Muslims. reigned but did not rule for twenty years.”(6) However, the Hazaras are Twelver Shi’i, and Instead, real power remained vested in his so have sixty million co-religionists in Iran. uncles who sought to break Afghanistan out In the northeastern Badakhshan region of of both its isolation and dependence on Afghanistan, there are many Isma’ili Shi’ia. either the Soviet Union or Great Britain. It When I traveled along the Tajik-Afghan was during this period that Afghanistan and frontier in 1997, numerous Tajik villagers the United States first exchanged told me they had regular clandestine contacts ambassadors. The Afghan government 2 Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 1 (March 2002) Who is Responsible for the Taliban? awarded a San Francisco-based engineering was Daoud’s support for a Pushtun firm the rights to develop hydroelectric and nationalist movement in Pakistan that would irrigation projects in the Hilmand River have the greatest lasting repercussions. Valley. Slowly, Afghanistan began drifting toward the West, both politically and THE QUESTION OF GREATER economically. PUSHTUNISTAN In 1953, Zahir Shah’s first cousin, the 43- The root of the Pushtunistan problem year-old Muhammad Daoud Khan became begins in 1893. It was in that year that Sir prime minister. Daoud sought to root out Henry Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary graft in the huge Hilmand scheme, speed up of India, demarcated what became known as reforms, but he remained a firm opponent of the Durand line, setting the boundary the liberalization in Afghan society. Seeking between British India and Afghanistan, and to recalibrate Afghanistan’s neutrality, in the process dividing the Pushtun tribes Daoud sought closer relations with the into two countries. Soviet Union.(7) However, neutrality in the The status quo continued until 1947, Cold War was a fleeting phenomenon. when the British granted both India and Both the Soviet Union and the United Pakistan their independence. Afghanistan States increasingly plied Afghanistan with (and many Pushtuns in Pakistan) argued that economic and technical assistance. Daoud’s if Pakistan could be independent from India, government sought to buy arms, and then the Pushtun areas of Pakistan should approached the United States several times likewise have the option for independence as between 1953 and 1955. However he was an entity to be called “Pushtunistan,” or unable to come to an agreement with “land of the Pushtun.”(9) Once independent Washington, which tied arms sales to either of Pakistan, Pushtunistan would presumably membership in the anti-Communist Baghdad choose to unite with the Pushtun-dominated Pact or at least in a Mutual Security Pact.(8) Afghanistan, to form a “Greater The Soviet Union, though, was eager to Pushtunistan” (and also bolster the supply what the United States would not. In proportion of Pushtuns within Afghanistan). 1956, Afghanistan purchased $25 million in The Pushtunistan issue continued to tanks, airplanes, helicopters, and small arms simmer into the 1950s, with Afghanistan- from the Soviet bloc, while Soviet experts based Pushtuns crossing the Durand Line in helped construct or convert to military 1950 and 1951 in order to raise Pushtunistan specifications airfields in northern flags. Daoud, prime minister
Recommended publications
  • The Foreign Fighters Problem, Recent Trends and Case Studies: Selected Essays
    Program on National Security at the FOREIGN POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Al-Qaeda al-Shabaab AQIM AQAP Central The Foreign Fighters Problem, Recent Trends and Case Studies: Selected Essays Edited by Michael P. Noonan Managing Director, Program on National Security April 2011 Copyright Foreign Policy Research Institute (www.fpri.org). If you would like to be added to our mailing list, send an email to [email protected], including your name, address, and any affiliation. For further information or to inquire about membership in FPRI, please contact Alan Luxenberg, [email protected] or (215) 732-3774 x105. FPRI 1528 Walnut Street, Suite 610 • Philadelphia, PA 19102-3684 Tel. 215-732-3774 • Fax 215-732-4401 About FPRI Founded in 1955, the Foreign Policy Research Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S. national interests. We add perspective to events by fitting them into the larger historical and cultural context of international politics. About FPRI’s Program on National Security The end of the Cold War ushered in neither a period of peace nor prolonged rest for the United States military and other elements of the national security community. The 1990s saw the U.S. engaged in Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and numerous other locations. The first decade of the 21st century likewise has witnessed the reemergence of a state of war with the attacks on 9/11 and military responses (in both combat and non-combat roles) globally. While the United States remains engaged against foes such as al-Qa`ida and its affiliated movements, other threats, challengers, and opportunities remain on the horizon.
    [Show full text]
  • Qutb Minar: Religion and Power in 13Th-Century India Professor Munis Faruqui (Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley)
    The Making of a Modern Myth Qutb Minar: Religion and Power in 13th-Century India Professor Munis Faruqui (Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley) I. Introduction India is the world’s largest democracy, and has the world’s second largest population of Muslims. Over the last few decades, deep religious divisions have appeared between the Hindu majority and the Muslim minority, who comprise 12–15 percent of the population. Extremists in either community have stoked violent religious conflict in ways that will be discussed shortly. Most of the violence in recent history has occurred in the form of pogroms. Most of the victims are Muslims. There are at least two critical threads that link contemporary anti-Muslim violence: first, a rising tide of Hindu nationalism. Second, much of the violence has been continuously stoked by rhetoricians’ use of an exaggerated and distorted history of endless conflict between these two groups—especially during the period when Muslim political authorities dominated northern India (c. 1200–1750). According to Hindu nationalists, the experience under the Muslims was oppressive, the Muslim rulers tyrannical, Hindu temples were destroyed, and so on. So the current anti- Muslim pogroms are payback, as the more extreme elements among the Hindu nationalists openly assert: attacking Muslims today is thus justified for what happened 500, 600, or 700 years ago. Like many groups elsewhere in the world, Hindu nationalists invoke history. Irish Republicanism invokes battles that happened in 1690 and so on. Groups in the Balkans are another example: Serbs, Croats, and Bosniacs have their own histories, and the 1389 battle of Kosovo becomes a central rallying cry for Serbian nationalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Revolution in Afghanistan
    Fred Halliday Revolution in Afghanistan On 27 April 1978 the world heard that there had been a successful military coup in Afghanistan. The régime headed by Mohammad Daud, which had itself come to power through a coup in July 1973, had been suddenly overthrown by tanks and jet planes that struck in the Afghan capital, Kabul. At first it seemed as if this was yet another military intervention which, although violent and abrupt, involved no major shift in the policies, social character or international alignment of those in power: a change comparable to Daud’s own coup, or to others in neighbouring Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Arab world. Yet within days it became clear that the announcements of radical change coming over Radio Kabul were more than just the ritual demagogy of military coups: something rather more substantial had occurred. In the first place, the coup, although carried out by the military, reflected much wider political forces. It had been preceded by mass popular demonstrations in Kabul, and as thousands of people flocked to inspect Daud’s conquered palace, 3 now renamed the House of the People, it became evident that it had ousted a hated régime and at least temporarily embodied the hopes of a wide section of the population. At the same time it became clear that the coup was not just the product of a conspiracy within the military, but had been carried out on the instructions of an underground Marxist political organization whose membership was overwhelmingly civilian. This at once distinguished the new rulers from other radical military régimes in the Arab world, South Asia or Ethiopia.
    [Show full text]
  • The Intelligence Community in Counterinsurgency
    The Intelligence Community in Counterinsurgency: Historical Lessons and Best Practices A Report of the Bush School of Government & Public Service for the RAND Corporation’s Intelligence Policy Center (IPC) The Intelligence Community in Andrew C. Albers Samuel G. Binkley Counterinsurgency: Mariam F. Chaudhry Historical Lessons and Kimberly Craswell Jordan S. Freeman Best Practices Carrie E. Lytle Tristan L. Myers Rami Naser Peter T. Sloan The recently updated counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine for the U.S. Army (FM 3-24) includes a lengthy discussion of the role of intelligence in COIN, but does not give the U.S. intelligence community useful guidelines for operations.1 Instead, the field manual provides an all-inclusive laundry list of information to be collected without any useful guidance on priorities and methods. The manual acknowledges the crucial role of the intelligence community in COIN, but leaves out an actionable set of standards to guide its operations. To lay the groundwork for an intelligence doctrine, or a set of best practices, for COIN, this report reviews the literature on both the role of intelligence and how counterinsurgency operations are fought and won. We use this literature to create a framework outlining how For helpful comments on this project the authors would like to thank William Rosenau, Kathi Webb, Michael Spirtas, Michael Hix, Roger Molander, and the other RAND researchers who engaged the research team, as well as the faculty and students of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. The authors would also like to thank John Parachini for his helpful suggestions, comments, and, especially, his generous support and sponsorship of this project.
    [Show full text]
  • Afghanistan, 1989-1996: Between the Soviets and the Taliban
    Afghanistan, 1989-1996: Between the Soviets and the Taliban A thesis submitted to the Miami University Honors Program in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for University Honors with Distinction by, Brandon Smith May 2005 Oxford, OH ABSTRACT AFGHANISTAN, 1989-1996: BETWEEN THE SOVIETS AND THE TALIBAN by, BRANDON SMITH This paper examines why the Afghan resistance fighters from the war against the Soviets, the mujahideen, were unable to establish a government in the time period between the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Afghanistan in 1989 and the consolidation of power by the Taliban in 1996. A number of conflicting explanations exist regarding Afghanistan’s instability during this time period. This paper argues that the developments in Afghanistan from 1989 to 1996 can be linked to the influence of actors outside Afghanistan, but not to the extent that the choices and actions of individual actors can be overlooked or ignored. Further, the choices and actions of individual actors need not be explained in terms of ancient animosities or historic tendencies, but rather were calculated moves to secure power. In support of this argument, international, national, and individual level factors are examined. ii Afghanistan, 1989-1996: Between the Soviets and the Taliban by, Brandon Smith Approved by: _________________________, Advisor Karen L. Dawisha _________________________, Reader John M. Rothgeb, Jr. _________________________, Reader Homayun Sidky Accepted by: ________________________, Director, University Honors Program iii Thanks to Karen Dawisha for her guidance and willingness to help on her year off, and to John Rothgeb and Homayun Sidky for taking the time to read the final draft and offer their feedback.
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom Or Theocracy?: Constitutionalism in Afghanistan and Iraq Hannibal Travis
    Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights Volume 3 | Issue 1 Article 4 Spring 2005 Freedom or Theocracy?: Constitutionalism in Afghanistan and Iraq Hannibal Travis Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njihr Recommended Citation Hannibal Travis, Freedom or Theocracy?: Constitutionalism in Afghanistan and Iraq, 3 Nw. J. Int'l Hum. Rts. 1 (2005). http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njihr/vol3/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights by an authorized administrator of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Copyright 2005 Northwestern University School of Law Volume 3 (Spring 2005) Northwestern University Journal of International Human Rights FREEDOM OR THEOCRACY?: CONSTITUTIONALISM IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ By Hannibal Travis* “Afghans are victims of the games superpowers once played: their war was once our war, and collectively we bear responsibility.”1 “In the approved version of the [Afghan] constitution, Article 3 was amended to read, ‘In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.’ … This very significant clause basically gives the official and nonofficial religious leaders in Afghanistan sway over every action that they might deem contrary to their beliefs, which by extension and within the Afghan cultural context, could be regarded as
    [Show full text]
  • SSC-SUPPL-2018-RESULT.Pdf
    FBISE - Computer Section FEDERAL BOARD OF INTERMEDIATE AND SECONDARY EDUCATION, ISLAMABAD 1 RESULT GAZETTE OF SSC-II SUPPL. EXAMINATION 2018 SALIENT FEATURES OF RESULT ALL AREAS G r a d e W i s e D i s t r i b u t i o n Pass Sts. / Grp. / Gender Enrolled Absent Appd. R.L. UFM Fail Pass A1 A B C D E %age G.P.A EX/PRIVATE CANDIDATES Male 6965 132 6833 16 5 3587 3241 97 112 230 1154 1585 56 47.43 1.28 Female 2161 47 2114 12 1 893 1220 73 63 117 625 335 7 57.71 1.78 1 SCIENCE Total : 9126 179 8947 28 6 4480 4461 170 175 347 1779 1920 63 49.86 1.40 Male 1086 39 1047 2 1 794 252 0 2 7 37 159 45 24.07 0.49 Female 1019 22 997 4 3 614 380 1 0 18 127 217 16 38.11 0.91 2 HUMANITIES Total : 2105 61 2044 6 4 1408 632 1 2 25 164 376 61 30.92 0.70 Total : 11231 240 10991 34 10 5888 5093 171 177 372 1943 2296 124 46.34 1.27 Grand Total : 11231 240 10991 34 10 5888 5093 171 177 372 1943 2296 124 46.34 1.27 FBISE - Computer Section FEDERAL BOARD OF INTERMEDIATE AND SECONDARY EDUCATION, ISLAMABAD 2 RESULT GAZETTE OF SSC-II SUPPL. EXAMINATION 2018 ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE GAZETTE Subjects EHE:I ESSENTIAL OF HOME ECONOMICS - I PST-II PAKISTAN STUDIES - II (HIC) AMD:I ART AND MODEL DRAWING - I EHE:II ESSENTIAL OF HOME ECONOMICS - II U-C:I URDU COMPULSORY - I AMD:I ART AND MODEL DRAWING - I (HIC) F-N:I FOOD AND NUTRITION - I U-C:I URDU COMPULSORY - I (HIC) AMD:II ART AND MODEL DRAWING - II F-N:II FOOD AND NUTRITION - II U-C:II URDU COMPULSORY - II AMD:II ART AND MODEL DRAWING - II (HIC) G-M:I MATHEMATICS (GEN.) - I U-C:II URDU COMPULSORY - II (HIC) ARB:I ARABIC - I G-M:II MATHEMATICS (GEN.) - II U-S URDU SALEES (IN LIEU OF URDU II) ARB:II ARABIC - II G-S:I GENERAL SCIENCE - I WEL:I WELDING (ARC & GAS) - I BIO:I BIOLOGY - I G-S:I GENERAL SCIENCE - I (HIC) WEL:II WELDING (ARC AND GAS) - II BIO:II BIOLOGY - II G-S:II GENERAL SCIENCE - II WWF:I WOOD WORKING AND FUR.
    [Show full text]
  • Reconfiguring a Region
    RECONFIGURING A REGION Opportunities and Challenges in the Middle East Hosted by the Council on Middle East Studies at the MacMillan Center at Yale University September 26‐27, 2008 Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT Friday, September 26 1:00 pm Opening Remarks and Overview Marcia Inhorn William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs Chair of the Council of Middle East Studies (CMES) at the MacMillan Center 1:30 pm Peacemaking in the 21st Century: have the terms changed? Shibley Telhami Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development, University of Maryland and Senior Fellow, Saban Center at the Brookings Institution Daoud Kuttab Award winning Palestinian journalist, former Ferris professor of journalism at Princeton University and Executive Director of the Community Media Network. Avi Shlaim Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford, and Fellow, St. Antony’s College Moderator: Asli Bali, Assistant Professor, University of California Los Angeles School of Law and Research Affiliate, Yale University Law School 3:30 pm Testing the Grounds for East‐West Relations: LeBanon and Syria in Flux Paul Salem Director, Middle East Center, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Murhaf Jouejati Professor of Middle East Studies, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University and Adjunct Scholar, Middle East Institute Marwan Khawaja Director, Center for Research on Population and Health, American University in Beirut Moderator: Sulayman Dib‐Hajj, Research
    [Show full text]
  • Congressional Record—House H4644
    H4644 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE June 21, 2004 GREENWOOD) came running up to me months he had in power before 9/11, Saudis or the Pakistanis or anyone else when he saw me and said, ‘‘How did you was, along with a few others, in a high to provide the leadership. It is up to know? How did you know?’’ Well, the level position to argue against, if not the people of the United States and our question is why did any of us not to change, the grotesquely mistaken leaders here to lead the way, and I have know? Why did we not know? Why did policies of the eighties and nineties, every confidence that our President those whom we have hired to protect but he failed to do so. In fact, we know will do and is doing just that. us not know? a few of the things that he did were ex- f It is time for those who made pos- actly in the wrong direction. sible the rise of the Taliban, the rise of If another 9/11 is to be avoided, we LEAVE OF ABSENCE bin Laden, and, yes, the tragedy of 9–11 need accountability. We do not need By unanimous consent, leave of ab- to be held personally accountable and the rearranging of a bureaucratic orga- sence was granted to: for us to understand the policies and nizational chart. There is nothing Mr. BECERRA (at the request of Ms. the people that caused 9–11. It was not wrong with our system that brought on PELOSI) for today on account of per- something that was ordained by God to 9/11, and there is nothing wrong with sonal reasons.
    [Show full text]
  • Articles Al-Qaida and the Pakistani Harakat Movement: Reflections and Questions About the Pre-2001 Period by Don Rassler
    PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume 11, Issue 6 Articles Al-Qaida and the Pakistani Harakat Movement: Reflections and Questions about the pre-2001 Period by Don Rassler Abstract There has been a modest amount of progress made over the last two decades in piecing together the developments that led to creation of al-Qaida and how the group has evolved over the last 30 years. Yet, there are still many dimensions of al-Qaida that remain understudied, and likely as a result, poorly understood. One major gap are the dynamics and relationships that have underpinned al-Qaida’s multi-decade presence in Pakistan. The lack of developed and foundational work done on the al-Qaida-Pakistan linkage is quite surprising given how long al- Qaida has been active in the country, the mix of geographic areas - from Pakistan’s tribal areas to its main cities - in which it has operated and found shelter, and the key roles Pakistani al-Qaida operatives have played in the group over the last two decades. To push the ball forward and advance understanding of this critical issue, this article examines what is known, and has been suggested, about al-Qaida’s relations with a cluster of Deobandi militant groups consisting of Harakat ul-Mujahidin, Harakat ul-Jihad Islami, Harakat ul-Ansar, and Jaish-e-Muhammad, which have been collectively described as Pakistan’s Harakat movement, prior to 9/11. It finds that each of these groups and their leaders provided key elements of support to al-Qaida in a number of direct and indirect ways.
    [Show full text]
  • Alizai Durrani Pashtun
    Program for Culture & Conflict Studies www.nps.edu/programs/ccs Khugiani Clan Durrani Pashtun Pashtun Duranni Panjpai / Panjpal / Panjpao Khugiani (Click Blue box to continue to next segment.) Reference: Courage Services Inc., Tribal Hierarchy & Dictionary of Afghanistan: A Reference Aid for Analysts, (February 2007). Adamec, Ludwig, Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Vol. 6, 1985. Program for Culture & Conflict Studies www.nps.edu/programs/ccs Khugiani Clan Durrani Pashtuns Khugiani Gulbaz Khyrbun / Karbun Khabast Sherzad Kharbun / Khairbun Wazir / Vaziri / Laili (Click Blue box to continue to next segment.) Kharai Najibi Reference: Courage Services Inc., Tribal Hierarchy & Dictionary of Afghanistan: A Reference Aid for Analysts, (February 2007). Adamec, Ludwig, Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Vol. 6, 1985. Program for Culture & Conflict Studies www.nps.edu/programs/ccs Khyrbun / Karbun Khugiani Clan Khyrbun / Karbun Karai/ Garai/ Karani Najibi Ghundi Mukar Ali Mando Hamza Paria Api Masto Jaji / Jagi Tori Daulat Khidar Motik Reference: Courage Services Inc., Tribal Hierarchy & Dictionary of Afghanistan: A Reference Aid for Analysts, (February 2007). Adamec, Ludwig, Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Vol. 6, 1985. Program for Culture & Conflict Studies www.nps.edu/programs/ccs Sherzad Khugiani Clan Sherzad Dopai Marki Khodi Panjpai Lughmani Shadi Mama Reference: Courage Services Inc., Tribal Hierarchy & Dictionary of Afghanistan: A Reference Aid for Analysts, (February 2007). Adamec, Ludwig, Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan, Vol. 6, 1985. Program for Culture & Conflict Studies www.nps.edu/programs/ccs Wazir / Vaziri / Laili Khugiani Clan Wazir / Vaziri / Laili Motik / Motki Sarki / Sirki Ahmad / Ahmad Khel Pira Khel Agam / Agam Khel Nani / Nani Khel Kanga Piro Barak Rani / Rani Khel Khojak Taraki Bibo Khozeh Khel Reference: Courage Services Inc., Tribal Hierarchy & Dictionary of Afghanistan: A Reference Aid for Analysts, (February 2007).
    [Show full text]
  • The Jihadi Threat: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Beyond
    THE JIHADI THREAT ISIS, AL QAEDA, AND BEYOND The Jihadi Threat ISIS, al- Qaeda, and Beyond Robin Wright William McCants United States Institute of Peace Brookings Institution Woodrow Wilson Center Garrett Nada J. M. Berger United States Institute of Peace International Centre for Counter- Terrorism Jacob Olidort The Hague Washington Institute for Near East Policy William Braniff Alexander Thurston START Consortium, University of Mary land Georgetown University Cole Bunzel Clinton Watts Prince ton University Foreign Policy Research Institute Daniel Byman Frederic Wehrey Brookings Institution and Georgetown University Car ne gie Endowment for International Peace Jennifer Cafarella Craig Whiteside Institute for the Study of War Naval War College Harleen Gambhir Graeme Wood Institute for the Study of War Yale University Daveed Gartenstein- Ross Aaron Y. Zelin Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Washington Institute for Near East Policy Hassan Hassan Katherine Zimmerman Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy American Enterprise Institute Charles Lister Middle East Institute Making Peace Possible December 2016/January 2017 CONTENTS Source: Image by Peter Hermes Furian, www . iStockphoto. com. The West failed to predict the emergence of al- Qaeda in new forms across the Middle East and North Africa. It was blindsided by the ISIS sweep across Syria and Iraq, which at least temporarily changed the map of the Middle East. Both movements have skillfully continued to evolve and proliferate— and surprise. What’s next? Twenty experts from think tanks and universities across the United States explore the world’s deadliest movements, their strate- gies, the future scenarios, and policy considerations. This report reflects their analy sis and diverse views.
    [Show full text]