The MED This Week newsletter provides expert analyses and informed comments on the most significant developments in the MENA region and beyond, bringing together unique opinions on the topic and reliable foresight on future scenarios. Today, we turn the spotlight on Afghanistan, where the Taliban’s rapid military advance has raised doubts about the domestic and regional implications of the US-NATO exit strategy as well as concerns about the country’s future.
The MED This Week newsletter provides expert analysis and informed insights on the most significant developments in the MENA region, bringing together unique opinions on the topic and reliable foresight on future scenarios. Today, we focus on Iraq, where both US and Iraqi paramilitary groups’ attacks are on the rise, while Prime Minister al-Kadhimi's visit to Europe could pave the way for an enhancement of NATO’s engagement in the country.
On the 7th of June 2021, Italian authorities announced they had dismantled a far-right group, called Ordine Ario Romano (“Aryan Roman Order”).
In 2006 the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) – of which al-Shabaab was initially part before becoming the remaining ‘faction’ – introduced a new chapter of governance in Somalia based on its interpretation of the Shari’a (Islamic Law). Using Islam as its foundation and claiming to introduce a ‘purely’ Islamic government in Somalia, al-Shabaab brought a different perspective to the Somali governance that dominated since 1991 (end of the government of Siad Barre) creating a foothold for clan and sub-clan aligned warlords.
Over the last decades, experts and practitioners have frequently described Somalia as the quintessential collapsed state: because of state fragility, Somalia is seen as a reign of anarchy nurturing terrorism. According to this narrative, externally assisted forms of counter-terrorism, peace- and state-building are the most preferable and feasible solution to address state fragility.
The MED This Week newsletter provides expert analyses and informed comments on the most significant developments in the MENA region, bringing together unique opinions on the topic and reliable foresight on future scenarios. Today, we focus on Afghanistan and on what the US withdrawal by September 11, 2021, will mean both domestically and internationally. Also, what shoul we expect from the diplomatic talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban to be held in Turkey?
On the last Sunday before Easter, the city of Makassar, South Sulawesi, was rocked by a suicide bombing that took place at the gates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral while the morning mass was held. Two suicide bombers detonated a homemade, improvised explosive device, wounding around 20 people and killing themselves.[1] In a press conference following the attack, Police General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Chief of the Indonesian National Police, stated the two suicide bombers were believed to be members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah (JAD).
On 1 March 2021, Italy’s intelligence systempublished its Report to Parliament on security information policy for the year 2020.
Violent extremism is evolving in the Liptako-Gourma region, and the response of domestic and foreign forces in the Sahel is changing too.
A year has passed since the relationship between the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) deteriorated into a full-fledged turf war in the Sahel, joining the league of conflict between Al-Qaeda (AQ) and Islamic State (IS). The conflict between JNIM and ISGS is amongthe deadliest in the world. What the inter-jihadi battles across the broader Middle East and Africa have in common is that they are either cyclical or gradually decline.
During the last decade security experts and practitioners have frequently described the Sahel as the quintessential exemplification of an ungoverned space. According to this narrative, large parts of the region’s territory remain out of the reach and control of local governments. Because of the structural fragilities and lack of resources, most of the Sahelian peripheries are seen as places deprived of any form of order, lands of chaos where local populations struggle to survive in a sort of perpetual and violent anarchy.
On 22 January, Italian Police arrested a neo-Nazi sympathizer on terrorism-related offenses in the northwestern port city of Savona. Police also searched the houses of 12 other suspects across Italy, from Turin in the north of the country to Palermo in the south.