A Blog about Middle Eastern & North African Politics, Society and Culture
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"
Abstract Dr. Abdullah Azzam has been seen as the father of global jihad both by analysts and indeed al-Qaeda itself. Al-Qaeda and Jihadis of all varieties claim him to be… Continue reading "When Abdullah Azzam met Ahmed Shah Massoud"
Description The Algerian Islamist Abdullah Anas, ‘perhaps the greatest warrior of the Afghan Arabs’, fought the Soviet Union for a decade. As one of the earliest Arabs to join… Continue reading "To the Mountains: My Life in Jihad, from Algeria to Afghanistan"
The Afghan Jihad: An Annotated Interview with Musa al-Qarni about Abdullah Azzam and Ahmed Shah Massoud and the tension with the ‘Afghan Arabs’ In my research into the Arab Afghans… Continue reading "Musa al-Qarni on the Afghan Jihad"