The main difference between these two concepts lies in the link between the act and the intended political objective.
In the case of the non-terrorist political use of terror, the side that makes use of terror looks to directly influence the behavior of its target. Concerning the terrorist political use of terror, on the other hand, this link is indirect. As we understand it, this analytical distinction is important, because it allows us to distinguish between terrorist actors by the use of terror.
Furthermore, it does not exclude 'a priori' a certain grouping from being understood as a state actor. Anchored in such a distinction, we present below the delimiting axes for a comparison between al-Qaeda and ISIS. The formation of al-Qaeda cannot be separated from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in During the period of , Afghanistan was governed by Daoud Khan, who ended the monarchical regime, declaring the country a republic.
Despite initially having the support of Communists, Daoud Khan began to pivot to the right in , in the light, above all, of a deep recession that was affecting the country. The search for higher external revenue and the decrease in Afghanistan's dependence on the Soviets were two factors that led the Afghan government to open conversations with Iran, encouraged by the U. New York: Harper Collins Publisher. This conjuncture exacerbated the opposition to Daoud Khan, uniting diverse factions of the Communist Party.
As a result, Moscow, afraid of being jettisoned from the political scene in Afghanistan, arranged for the unification of the Communists and the removal of Daoud Khan.
Thus, after the assassination of Daoud Khan and his entire family, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan emerged between April , From its beginning, the new government initiated several reforms inspired by the Soviet model, with the intention to modernize the country. The new laws, however — above all, those pertaining to marriage and agrarian reform — were not well-received by the population, and any demonstration of opposition or dissatisfaction was brutally put down by the government COLL, COLL, Steve , Ghost wars: the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to September 10, New York: Penguin.
The year of was the stage for other important events in the Middle East as well. In November, an attempt to capture the Great Mosque of Mecca by groups opposed to the Al Saud monarchy marked the first big revolt against the Saudi government since its establishment. The presence of a foreign power on Afghan soil was an important catalyst for the formation of a resistance.
Despite the geopolitical interests involved in weakening the presence of the USSR in the region above all, the U. It had to do with a Communist state invading a Muslim country, providing airs of war to the defense of Islam. One of the intellectual mentors of Osama bin Laden, he died after a car bomb in Peshawar, Pakistan, in Al-Qaeda had the purpose of channeling combatants and funds to the Afghan resistance but, after the withdrawal of Soviet troops, it began to accompany the struggles of Muslims around the world, including rebellions against regimes considered apostates BYMAN, a BYMAN, Daniel a , Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the global jihadist movement: what everyone needs to know.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. In traditional Islamic law, apostasy is considered the conscious abandonment of Islam by a Muslim by means of his words or actions. However, he found U. This was how his already-explicit opposition to the U. In Sudanese territory, bin Laden and al-Qaeda found the essential conditions to develop the group by means of an agreement with Sudan's government. On the one hand, through his personal fortune, bin Laden contributed to the construction of infrastructure projects in Sudan.
In: The history of terrorism: from antiquity to Al-Qaeda. Los Angeles: University of California Press. The honeymoon between Khartoum and al-Qaeda, however, did not last very long, because bin Laden's activities began to draw the attention of the Persian Gulf monarchies.
Therefore, Middle Eastern countries' pressure on Sudan increased, particularly for bin Laden's expulsion. Al-Qaeda's next destination was Afghanistan, at the time dominated by the Taliban regime. New York: Harper Collins. At the beginning of , the Taliban authorized the opening of training camps in Afghanistan for al-Qaeda's use.
Accessed on January 29, In response to the regime's refusal to do so, Operation Enduring Freedom was launched on October 7, On November 13, , the Taliban fell, but neither its main leaders nor bin Laden were found. However, even though its capacity to act was harmed, al-Qaeda played prominent roles in other terrorist attacks, particularly an attack on a synagogue in Tunisia, an explosion in a nightclub in Bali both in , explosions in train stations in Madrid in , and metro stations in London in Finally, in May , bin Laden was assassinated by U.
The origin contexts above synthesize evidence that the rise of al-Qaeda came from a turbulent relationship between the West and the Muslim world. As a result, the status quo that they intended to alter was one of asymmetry in which, from the perspective of contemporary militant Islamist groups, Islam was being continually and constantly attacked by Western countries, particularly by the interference of the U.
It was no coincidence that al-Qaeda proposed three main goals. First, it was to serve as a terrorist group in and of itself. Second, it was to act as an organizer, recruiter, and logistical provider for other militant Muslims, incentivizing them to fight beyond Afghanistan. It is, however, important for us to avoid analyses that tend to understand Islamist militants, above all the most violent ones, as nothing more than contemporary expressions of obscurantisms whose primary target is Western modernity.
One can therefore argue that, at least since the 18 th century, the Muslim world has seen itself as being in decline, particularly in relation to European countries. Given this scenario, several thinkers have connected this situation to the deviations of Muslim governments from Muhammad's teachings.
One of the most well-known movements coming from this juncture was Wahhabism, founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Basically, Wahhab proclaimed that the solution to the social and political problems of the time was a return to the eternal and infallible sources of Islam: the Qur'an and the Sunnah 11 11 The fundamental and canonical sources of Islam are the Qur'an and the Sunnah examples of Muhammad, brought together in collections of records of his words and feats.
For discussions about Muslim fundamentalism and political Islam, see Roy More recently, especially from the s and s on, we have the influence of Sayyid Qutb. Qutb became the main ideological leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, articulating a vision of Muslim society divided between two distinct and irreconcilable fields: the believers and the unbelievers.
Consequently, it does not seem unreasonable to us to state that the political objectives of al-Qaeda reflect, to some degree, the political and ideological imagery coming from this complex context. They were certainly influenced by the ideas of Qutb, who considered the West to be a historical enemy of Islam, and that jihad 12 12 Jihad is a term with many possible meanings, usually divided between lesser and greater jihad.
Greater jihad refers to the effort or struggle of the believer to stay faithful to God's designs. Lesser jihad is a combination of external efforts to protect the community and the faith from external attacks NASSER, Bin Laden and his comrades saw government actors' deviations from Muslim teachings and foreign actors' interference as the causes of decadence in the Muslim world.
It is no coincidence that the U. In , al-Qaeda published a 'fatwa' 13 13 According to Roy , a 'fatwa' is a legal decision, issued by a religious authority, that discusses topics not mentioned in traditional Muslim sources.
It also clarifies the most correct interpretation of Islamic norms. In addition, in a 'fatwa' published in , it criticized Saudi Arabia and the U. In that same 'fatwa' , there were countless accusations against the Saudi regime, which in addition to having allowed infidels to enter the Holy Land — the most sacred places for Muslims, Mecca and Medina, are in Saudi Arabia — also suspended Islamic law, wasted the oil wealth of the country, and ignored the Palestinian cause, among other crimes BYMAN, a BYMAN, Daniel a , Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the global jihadist movement: what everyone needs to know.
Furthermore, it also declared al-Qaeda's support for the conflicts in Chechnya, Bosnia, and Palestine. However, for bin Laden, the first step was to defeat the U. The initial goal would be to concentrate efforts against the U. The next step would then be to overthrow the apostate regimes, creating the conditions for the emergence of authentic Muslim governments. The definition of the U. New York: Alpha. It is our framework that lets us define al-Qaeda as a terrorist group.
We then have the use of terror with the intention to alter the correlation of forces, but it is not expected that the terrorist act in itself will directly alter the result in favor of the group. The statement above can be evaluated by looking at the concrete impacts of the terrorist attacks.
Note, therefore, that significant damage was caused, but that the correlation of forces between the U. Besides, the statement cited above can also be evaluated through the prism of al-Qaeda's finances. Most of their resources are directed to carrying out terrorist attacks 14 14 According to data assembled by Byman a, p. The cost of the attacks on the London metro were somewhere around 8, GBP. With relation to revenue, al-Qaeda seeks to not restrict itself to just one sponsor country.
As a result, al-Qaeda had to diversify its sources of income. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Accessed on January 28, Despite these diverse sources of financing, this total would not sustain a direct confrontation with the U. We therefore have more important evidence that the link between the acts and al-Qaeda's political objective is indirect, which allows us to categorize al-Qaeda as a terrorist group in the terms we have proposed here.
Zarqawi even went to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviets, but returned to Jordan at the end of the conflict, ending up participating in groups opposed to the government. However, he was arrested in after batches of explosives were found in his possession. After leaving prison in , Zarqawi returned to Afghanistan, seeking the support of bin Laden in order to build his organization.
Furthermore, bin Laden and Zawahiri disagreed with the extremist views of Zarqawi, particularly with his emphasis on attacking Shiites, who the Jordanian accused of betrayal.
Despite their differences, both groups managed to work together, above all because of the fact that Zarqawi operated in the Levant — a region that spans from Jordan to Syria — where al-Qaeda was fragile.
The U. Chosen by then-President George W. Bush to command the provisional authority of Iraq, Paul Bremer took two decisions that contributed to increasing the destabilization of the country. In , taking advantage of this situation, Zarqawi swore loyalty to bin Laden, giving birth to al-Qaeda in Iraq.
This association brought benefits for both groups. Despite these gains, the relationship continued to be permeated with divergences because bin Laden and Zawahiri were pressing for terrorist attacks focused on U.
After the death of Zarqawi in June and a series of attacks on al-Qaeda in Iraq when Sunni tribes allied with the U. Bin Laden and Zawahiri looked to intervene, advising the remnants to discard the objectives and tactics designed by Zarqawi and to seek the support of the local population.
The decision taken, however, went contrary to that advice. Shortly before his death, Zarqawi had founded a council composed of various jihadist groups acting in Iraq because he recognized that it made no sense for al-Qaeda in Iraq to compete with them. This council then announced the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq, leading Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, Zarqawi's successor, to swear loyalty to this new body, which was led by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. However, in , the Islamic State of Iraq seemed to have its days numbered.
Two events, however, ended up helping the Islamic State of Iraq survive. First, after the withdrawal of U. Thus, a man who had never embraced moderation rejected the concept as totally anathema to Islam. During this period, Anbari moved back and forth from central to northern Iraq to facilitate jihadist activities.
By contrast, it would take another year for Zarqawi to embrace such extreme sectarianism. He was influenced by what was happening around him in Iraq. Anbari also had a direct role in the transformation of al-Qaeda in Iraq from a foreign-dominated force into one run by Iraqis. When Anbari returned, he presented a plan to merge al-Qaeda in Iraq with other, local forces to establish the Mujahideen Shura Council in January Anbari headed the council, using his new nom de guerre, Abdullah Rasheed al-Baghdadi.
Anbari was arrested by U. Although Anbari remained in custody until March , he stayed involved in the jihadist story by recruiting and indoctrinating fellow inmates. The two formed independent relationships with key members of Jabhat al-Nusra, and then Baghdadi unilaterally announced a merger between the two branches. Anbari was also tasked with communicating with al-Qaeda, under the nom de guerre Abu Suhayb al-Iraqi, to resolve the jihadist infighting.
For Syrian rebels, Anbari was the face of ISIS as he met and negotiated with them from late through the summer of Indeed, he became the ideologue in chief, in which capacity he trained senior clerics, instructed members to draft religious texts, and issued fatwas about major issues affecting the caliphate.
In March , on one of those frequent trips, Anbari was killed near the Syrian city of Shaddadi, along the Syrian-Iraqi border. According to the biography, American soldiers attempted to capture him in a raid but he blew himself up using a suicide belt. Anbari outlived Zarqawi by 10 years, and out-influenced him. He had, for example, around a dozen noms de guerre. For many years the U. Officials had only two pictures of him. When he was captured briefly in Mosul in , his U. The second time he was captured, in , they recognized him but only as the local terrorist cleric from Tal Afar, rather than as the leader of the al-Qaeda—dominated Mujahideen Shura Council.
People near him built the strategy of what he wanted to achieve. Husham Alhashimi, an Iraqi historian of jihadist groups who advises the Iraqi government on ISIS , studied the insurgency against the United States up close from the outset. By August , the war began to come to a close with the On September 11, , 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States.
Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Bin Laden and the Origins of al Qaeda During the Soviet-Afghan War in Afghanistan, in which the Soviet Union gave support to the communist Afghan government, Muslim insurgents, known as the mujahideen, rallied to fight a jihad or holy war against the invaders.
Recommended for you. Osama bin Laden. Al Capone. Coroner's Report: Al Capone. Zawahri Replaces Osama bin Laden. The Story of the Global War on Terror: Timeline As much of the nation was just starting the day on the morning of September 11, , 19 terrorists hijacked four East Coast flights, crashing three of the airplanes into targets in New York and Washington, D.
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