Islamic State courts like-minded Afghan jihadists

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
State Courts ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Content Type

Subject Islamic State strengthens in Afghanistan. Significance As US-led Afghan peace talks proceed slowly and the Taliban battle Afghan troops around the country, reports that Islamic State (IS) is growing in strength further complicate the prospects for peace. Impacts The Taliban determination to continue fighting diverts US and Afghan military resources from IS. Russia will make practical preparations for the long-feared emergence of a direct IS threat to Central Asia. Al-Qaida's already fading influence as global jihad leader will be further reduced if IS consolidates its position in Afghanistan.

Central Asia drives Syria repatriations to reduce risk

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Direct Link ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Reduce Risk

Subject Central Asian policies on repatriating nationals associated with Middle East insurgency. Significance Central Asian governments' concerns about radicalisation among Muslim-majority populations were amplified when hundreds of nationals went to Syria and Iraq in 2014-15 to join Islamic State (IS) and other jihadist groups. They are prioritising the repatriation of women and children, in contrast to European governments' reluctance to approve blanket returns. Impacts The security drive against local extremists will be sustained across Central Asia. Policies towards returning women will not be affected by IS-attributed attacks unless a direct link is made. In Russia, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is leading on repatriation efforts focused on children.

Prospects for Central Asia in 2016

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
The World ◽  
State Group ◽  
The Imf

Subject Prospects for Central Asia in 2016. Significance In October, both the World Bank and the IMF downgraded Central Asia's economic growth outlook for 2016. The previous month, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan had signalled the rising influence of extremist organisations, first and foremost the Islamic State group (ISG) across the region. Central Asian regimes are faced with a multitude of risks, including political destabilisation.

Tension on China’s inland frontier may grow over time

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Return Home ◽  
Western Hegemony ◽  
Over Time

Significance Moscow is a key partner in opposing Western hegemony, but Pakistan is the closest thing China has to an ally and depends increasingly on Chinese support. Territorial and economic conflicts with India are pushing Delhi closer to Washington and Tokyo. Impacts Russia would probably oppose any attempt to increase China’s overt military presence in Central Asia. Despite the return home of militants from Islamic State territories in Syria and Iraq, the threat from radical Islamism remains low. Divergences of interest will not prevent China-Russia cooperation for now, but Beijing cannot rely on Moscow to defer to its wishes.

Central Asia can manage Islamic State risks

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
Security Treaty ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
State Group

Subject Islamic State group's following in Central Asia. Significance Over the last 18 months, officials in Central Asia have frequently cited the recruitment of citizens by Islamic State group (ISG) as a major threat to national security. Governments fear that some of those who return will build networks and launch jihadist attacks. Their responses target suspected sympathisers and returning fighters but also alienate the broader community of devout but not extremist Muslims. Impacts Civil and political rights will be curbed as part of counter-terrorism programmes. Tajikistan and other states will look for Russian assurances including through the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. China will strengthen security ties although there is little Uighur activism in Central Asia.

Prospects for Central Asia in 2019

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Content Type

Subject Prospects for Central Asia in 2019. Significance Central Asia may face economic headwinds in the coming year due to uncertain oil prices and at best modest growth in Russia, the destination for labour migrants and many regional exports. Increasing intra-regional cooperation may blunt some of that effect. The region remains stable but all countries have concerns about the Islamic State (IS) group, especially its presence in nearby Afghanistan.

Problems of military-political interaction between the countries of the West and Central Asia at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Boris G. Koybaev
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The West ◽  
Regional Environment ◽  
Western Influence ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Political Interaction ◽  
The Military

Central Asia in recent history is a vast region with five Muslim States-new actors in modern international relations. The countries of Central Asia, having become sovereign States, at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries are trying to peaceful interaction not only with their underdeveloped neighbors, but also with the far-off prosperous West. At the same time, the United States and Western European countries, in their centrosilic ambitions, seek to increase their military and political presence in Central Asia and use the military bases of the region’s States as a springboard for supplying their troops during anti-terrorist and other operations. With the active support of the West, the Central Asian States were accepted as members of the United Nations. For monitoring and exerting diplomatic influence on the regional environment, the administration of the President of the Russian Federation H. W. Bush established U.S. embassies in all Central Asian States. Turkey, a NATO member and secular Islamic state, was used as a lever of indirect Western influence over Central Asian governments, and its model of successful development was presented as an example to follow.

Combatting organised crime and terrorism in Central Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma van Santen
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
The State ◽  
State Crime ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Terrorist Groups

Purpose This paper aims to examine the shift away from the traditional distinction between organised crime and terrorist groups towards their conceptual convergence under the crime-terror nexus narrative in the context of international security and development policy in post-Soviet Central Asia. It assesses the empirical basis for the crime-terror and state-crime nexus in three Central Asian countries – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – and argues that the exclusion of the state from the analytical framework undermines the relevance of the crime-terror paradigm for policy-making. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on a literature review of academic research, recent case studies highlighting new empirical evidence in Central Asia and international policy publications. Findings There is a weak empirical connection between organised crime and Islamic extremists, such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Hizbut Tahrir, in Central Asia. The state-crime paradigm, including concepts of criminal capture, criminal sovereignty and criminal penetration, hold more explanatory power for international policy in Central Asia. The crime-terror paradigm has resulted in a narrow and ineffective security-oriented law enforcement approach to counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism but does not address the underlying weak state governance structures and political grievances that motivate organised crime and terrorist groups respectively. Originality/value International policy and scholarship is currently focussed on the areas of convergence between organised crime and terrorist groups. This paper highlights the continued relevance of the traditional conceptual separation of terrorist and organised crime groups based on their different motives, methods and relationship with the state, for security and democratic governance initiatives in the under-researched Central Asian region.

Terrorism financing and money laundering: two sides of the same coin?

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 962-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Compin
Keyword(s):  
Money Laundering ◽  
Tax Evasion ◽  
White Collar Crime ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fully Integrated ◽  
Financial Crimes ◽  
Terrorism Financing ◽  
Utilitarian Approach ◽  
The Cost

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how terrorism financing can be assimilated with money launderning when the amounts ofmoney involved differ so markedly. Not only is the cost of financing terrorist attacks minimal compared to the huge sums often at stake in financial crimes, but also the psychological profile of terrorists, who are reclusive by nature, contrasts starkly with that of financial criminals, who are usually fully integrated members of society. When terrorism financing is equated with money laundering this represents a utilitarian approach in that it facilitates the creation of a security strategy and stifles criticism of criminogenic capitalismthat turns a blind eye to tax evasion. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is conceptual, focussing on the assimilation of terrorism financing with money laundering. There is an interview with a French magistrate, specialized in the fight against corruption and white-collar crime, and data have been collected from international organizations and scholarly articles. Findings The fight against money laundering and money dirtying has clearly sparked numerous controversies around evaluation, scope, criminal perpetrators and a lack of vital cooperation between administrative and judicial services. Social implications This paper raises questions about the reasons behind the linking of money laundering and money dirtying by states and players in public international law and why the fight against money laundering is very much overshadowed by their focus on terrorist financing in dealing with the growing threat of Islamic State, otherwise known as ISIS or ISIL, in the Middle East and West Africa. Originality/value The paper enables the reader to raise the question of similarities between the fight against money laundering and the fight against terrorism financing.

The Islamic State in South and Central Asia

Survival ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 131-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawood Azami
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Islamic State

Well funded and dangerous: assessing the Islamic State’s financing operations

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Local Population ◽  
Community Support ◽  
International Community ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Terrorist Financing ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
The Future ◽  
Transnational Network ◽  
Base Of Support

Purpose The existing literature on Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has thus far focused on the group’s contemporary or previous financing activities. However, there has not been an analysis of the ways in which ISIS’ funding is likely to change moving forward now that it has come under international scrutiny. The purpose of this paper is to assess the ways in which ISIS’ funding is likely to evolve in the future and to also suggest methods for combating its financing activities. Design/methodology/approach The paper is theoretical in nature. By assessing the existing literature on terrorist financing, it is apparent that terrorist organizations alter their funding sources and methods after coming under intense international scrutiny. Therefore, two hypotheses are put forth for the future of ISIS’ funding activities: the group will become more effective at building social support among its local population, thereby consolidating is funding sources and methods within Syria and Iraq; and the group will increasingly branch out, searching for sources from a transnational network, as its base in Syria and Iraq begins to deteriorate. Findings Community support is essential for sustaining a terrorist network. As a result, it is likely that ISIS will increasingly seek funding from a transnational network as its base of support in Iraq and Syria begins to deteriorate. There is also a distinct third possibility that the group will be able to consolidate its base while also moving abroad for financial support. This third option presents the most complicated outcome for the international community in its fight against ISIS. Originality/value This study fills a gap in the literature on terrorist financing, particularly with regards to ISIS, to assist the international community in its fight against the group both now and moving into the future.

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