Sifting through the US counter-terrorism report
- By Sajjad Malik
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 24, 2017
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U.S. President Donald Trump [Chinanews.com] |
The U.S. has issued its latest counter-terrorism report, which provides insightful glimpses of the campaign against violent extremism.
The Country Reports on Terrorism 2016 is based on the Department of State’s annual assessment of trends and events in international terrorism during the period.
It provides some interesting overall data. For example, the total number of attacks by militants in 2016 decreased by 9 percent, leading to a decline in the number of deaths by 13 percent year-on-year.
The simple reason for this is that there were fewer attacks and deaths in Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Yemen – the five nations which accounted for the most terror-related incidents.
Another important aspect of terrorism in 2016 was that, though the attacks took place in 104 countries, 55 percent were concentrated in five countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines.
Interestingly, Syria, Yemen and Somalia are not part of this group; however, Syria and Nigeria join with Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in accounting for 75 percent of terror-related deaths.
The report shows that Islamic State or Da’esh remained the top terrorist threat in 2016. It was successful in directing and inspiring terrorist cells worldwide through adhering networks, and individuals.
However, the report noted the positive development that the IS was expelled from a significant amount of territory it had controlled at the start of 2016. The same trend has been continued in 2017 and it recently lost Mosul in Iraq and pressure is mounting on its stronghold of Raqqa in Syria.
The report says IS losses were due to the coordinated military operations of the 72-member Global Coalition aligned against it. However, several other factors also played a role in reversing its gains.
According to the report, Al-Qaeda remains a threat to global peace. The group has shown a lot of resilience despite the death of several top operatives, especially through drone attacks.
The report names Iran as allegedly being the “leading state sponsor of terrorism.” It says that Iran was supporting groups like the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which the report identifies as a threat to the United States, and Hamas. Though, it does not specifically mention Israel’s concerns about these groups but it must have been in the minds of those compiling the report.
The study provides policy-related assessments, country-by-country breakdowns of foreign government counterterrorism cooperation. However, parts of it are politicized and driven by U.S.-centric security.
Hence, the crucial assessment may be highly subjective and used to penalize countries the Americans consider a threat to their national security; for example, apart from Iran, already mentioned, Sudan and Syria are named as states sponsoring terrorism.
The report has given a positive assessment of Saudi Arabia for steps in 2016 to eradicate militancy and eliminate the channels used for financing of militancy. It also praised the kingdom for its close cooperation with the United States against terrorism.
It has not fully acknowledged the role of Pakistan in eliminating militancy. Rather, it blames Islamabad for providing “safe havens” for militants. The criticism is based on the U.S. analysis that Pakistan has not taken the appropriate actions against the Haqqani network, one the most lethal outfit fighting in Afghanistan.
The second strand of observations in the report on Pakistan seems to be influenced by India, namely that groups fighting in the Kashmir region are still living in Pakistan despite demands both by India and the U.S. to take action against them.
Pakistan on its part says that it has done so, which can be proved by the marked reduction in violence in the country – a fact also recognized in the report.
The issue of those involved in the Kashmir fighting is complex as Pakistan considers Kashmiris are struggling for the right of self-determination, which was promised to them through the UN resolution in 1949; this has been denied by India, prompting alienation and violence.
Sajjad Malik is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm
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