A Blog about Middle Eastern & North African Politics, Society and Culture
Prince Turki al-Faisal reflects on the return of the Taliban and his role in decades of warfare, in an exclusive interview with New Lines The past has a rude way… Continue reading "Ex-Saudi Intelligence Head Weighs In on Afghanistan"
On September 11 the world changed. Four passenger planes were hijacked by al-Qaeda. Two crashed into the world trade centre in New York city indelibly imprinting itself into the consciousness… Continue reading "9/11 and the War on Terror"
Obaidullah Baheer is a lecturer of transitional justice at the American University in Afghanistan, Kabul. He holds a postgraduate degree in International Relations from the University of New South Wales,… Continue reading "Bin Laden: The Road to 9/11"
With additional material “Did you have any trouble getting here?” asked the balding man with the bullish neck, grey beard, and high-pitched voice. “Just a little bit,” I answered politely,… Continue reading "Jailing Jihadists in the West"
Muhammad al-Rifai was an unassuming figure who ended up as the nominal leader of the Muslim world. Opportunities to meet a caliph are pretty rare. Yet in London in the… Continue reading "The Caliph of Lisson Green"
I was part panel that discussed how journalists in the West should approach Islamism. The Panel: Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi @ajaltamimi, Janina Findeisen@j_findeisen, Kevin B. Lee @alsolikelife, Tam Hussein, @tamhussein and… Continue reading "Investigating Islamism"
On the 26th-28th June clashes broke out between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and a faction led by the al-Qaeda affiliated Hurras al-Din (HaD). Although an informal agreement ended the violence… Continue reading "Into the heart of Jihadism"
To The Mountains: My Life in Jihad from Algeria to Afghanistan (Hurst) has so far received critical acclaim from a wide variety of people from Lawrence Wright to Yusuf Qaradawi.… Continue reading "The Meaning of Jihad at the Frontline Club"
The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad by Thomas Hegghammer is a biography on Abdallah Azzam and no doubt going to be the standard work on the… Continue reading "The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad- Book Review"
When Kabul fell in 1992, Abdullah Anas recalls in his memoirs, To The Mountain: My Life in Jihad from Algeria to Afghanistan, that he encouraged Osama bin Laden to join… Continue reading "Night Letters: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Afghan Islamists who Changed the World- Book Review"