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"
Somewhere along the line Abdelhamid Abaaoud, not an educated man, conflated the myth of the Afghan Jihad with reality. This conflation had disastrous consequences. Abaaoud and his friends joined a… Continue reading "From Afghanistan to Abaaoud"
The trial of Rahmat Akilov, the lone wolf terrorist who killed five pedestrians in Stockholm’s equivalent of Oxford Street, last April have just begun. Whilst the trial is expected to… Continue reading "Rahmat Akilov’s Trial Raises Important Dilemmas for Swedish Policy Makers"
Abstract: For Muslims in the West especially those who become militant, the question of authority or the lack of it, is an important question. I will use the story of… Continue reading "Problems in the Caliphate: The Issue of Authority "