Essay on The Brutality of Terrorist Groups in Afghanistan and Libya

Just a few years ago, Libya had one of the highest standards of living of any African country. Now Libya is in political turmoil with multiple groups and governments trying to gain power. In 1969, Muammar Gaddafi seized power of Libya by a military coup. The authoritarian ruler stayed in power for four decades until 2011 when he was killed in an armed rebellion assisted by Western military intervention. The UN intervened in Libya for human rights reasons, not to facilitate a regime change. Shortly after Gaddafi was killed, foreign assistance disappeared leaving Libya fragile and hostile. The Libyan civil war began as a part of the Arab uprising, with two main opposing forces, the government and rebel militias. The military groups that had once fought to topple Gaddafi began to turn on each other in an attempt to gain power and oil wealth. Libya is now more ideologically divided than ever and in need of a plan to revive its nation.

Informants watched people in government offices, factories, and schools, and dissidents both at home and living abroad were executed or assassinated.” (Recknagel, 2011:1) As well, fear was instilled across the country from Gaddafi’s forty member team of highly trained women bodyguards. Gaddafi had previously been linked to supporting many terrorist attacks, such as, the Lockerbie bombing and the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing. Therefore, from a realist perspective, Libyans had a legitimate reason to resort to civil war because of rational self interest. Libyans feared what actions the regime may undertake if they remained in power.

The war between Afghanistan and the United States has been one that has lasted longer than any war; the civil war combined with both World War I and World War II do not match the duration the United States currently faces with Afghanistan. With both countries engaging little to no military conflict, the U.S. continues to be on Afghanistan’s territory, securing the country from the rise of militias potentially threatening our counterpart’s sovereignty. Many people have been arguing whether the US should withdraw from Afghanistan and when. Currently, as the U.S. plans to withdraw from the Afghan nation, the issue is not one that pertains to the U.S. and Afghanistan, for they are not the only two involved. American forces had planned to leave the opponent’s nation but fear the security along with the sovereignty of Afghanistan continues to be one that is porous. The initiation of the war was the 9/11 attack and has been lasting for 13 years. However, many people complain about the extreme high cost of the war The United States should withdraw completely from Afghanistan because of the high cost of the war, popular opinion’s support, and very few al-Qaeda members are left.

In the book, the author makes it clear that executing counterinsurgency in Afghanistan is a difficult task for Special Forces operators. She explains that the commanding officers knew these operations would be a challenging feat. For instance, the author details Major General Scott Miller’s efforts to expand the Afghan Local Police initiative to the rural areas of Afghanistan. Major General Miller felt that the same approach that was taken in the cities would not work in the rural areas. In other words, the “Afghan local policemen by themselves were not sufficient to bring peace to rural Afghanistan, and the country had to be stabilized from the village up” (Robinson 2013, 26). In this instance, the book demonstrates the Generals knowledge and awareness of the situation in the region. That is to say, “the only capacities for dispute resolution and law enforcement in much of the country consist of village or tribal councils and mullahs who administer a crude interpretation of Sharia” (Rubin 2007, 76). Both the author and the general realized the importance villages have in securing peace in Afghanistan.

Within the police force itself there were multiple defections to the Taliban along with stolen military equipment. The most outrageous scenes were Afghan military and police employing young boys as “chai workers”. These kids were house slaves and frequently sexually assaulted, along with placing them in positions of immediate danger. The incidents with these boys were graphic, three were shot dead trying to escape. Upon confrontation of the police chief he claims that these boys “liked being there and giving their asses at night. If my commanders don’t fuck these boys, who will they fuck? Their own grandmothers”. Clearly if the police chief does not want to advocate change, a major Western goal was not succeeding.

This open source report, prepared by the Program on Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Studies Program Manager Susan Stipanovich, aims to detail an historical analysis of the Taliban and Al Qaeda using unconventional warfare against civilians in Afghanistan.

Throughout the history of Afghanistan, women have played a significant role in trying to connect the divide within society. They work by connecting communities and individuals; thus working to change the narrative of peace building in a society where violence has long been considered a method of realizing interests. Afghan women have been fighting to turn the focus towards the fulfillment of peace and human rights. The inadequate support that these women receive and the distrust they experience, from fellow Afghans and the international community, has had an adversative impact on women’s inclusion in the peace process.

For years in Libya, there has been a very corrupt government. There was a dictator in power, his name was Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Qaddafi. This lasted from the years of 1969 to 2011. His dictatorship and

The Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan are affiliated with Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, which is a sworn enemy of America since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Therefore, defeating the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan became a top priority for the United States, because the Taliban insurgents group allowed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda to run terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. The United States government called on Pakistan the closest neighbor of Afghanistan to ally with America against the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. The government of Pakistan became the U.S. ally in this war, but at the same time, supported the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. This paper argues that there are two

Although women can appear to be unlikely suspects in terrorist attacks, women are increasingly participating with terrorist organizations that promote hate, violence, and destruction. In the last 10 years alone, there have been several women associated with terrorist groups, such as ISIS, trying to ensure the groups’ mission statement is carried through. Women are not only leaving their home and their country, but they are also giving up their freedoms to join terrorist organizations. This paper will focus on various ways women become involved in terrorist groups and their role within the groups. The treatment of women within the group will examined as well as their reasons for staying within a group that belittles the female race. Furthermore,

The Taliban took over the country in terms of the composition of society, such as education, mosques, religions, and shrines (Spindlove & Simonsen, 2013). This group transformed Afghanistan and made it function how they wanted it to. The Taliban began to take over during Afghanistan’s civil war (Spindlove & Simonsen, 2013). This group eventually became involved in the drug trade in order to generate revenue to support itself (Spindlove & Simonsen, 2013). They provided training sanctions where propaganda also took place for soldiers who were not from Afghanistan (Spindlove & Simonsen, 2013). The Taliban was in charge of the military operations throughout Afghanistan and conducting terrorist attacks (Spindlove & Simonsen, 2013). It is known that

When the term “Terrorist” is the topic of conversation in businesses or social gatherings, images of individuals wearing mask or head gear come to mind. However, todays’ terrorist is hard to pinpoint because of their ambiguous character/feature. Unlike traditionally armed, and uniformed soldiers, terrorists may be any person representing any country around the world. Once considered uneducated, cladded middle-eastern attire, or a rogue demeanor depicted by a lack of grooming standards. Most Americans view middle easterners involved in terrorist activities to look like Osama Bin Laden or somewhat similar.

After a coup d’état in 1969, Libya lived under Gaddafi’s authoritarian government for more than four decades. His regime was characterized by brutal repression against opposition through torture, massacres and public hangings or mutilations. This level of political repression was the government’s mean to maintain control over military and general population. Any kind of political association was forbidden, the media was controlled, and the population was closely surveillance for the government in order to avoid coup attempts. The Libyan Intelligence Service, whose chief was Abdullah Al-Senussi, was in charge of the security in and outside the country. The violence of Gaddafi’s regime transcended Libya frontiers as the monitoring of dissidents around the world ended up in the assassination of target opponents that were living in western countries.

The beginnings of the Taliban can be tied back to the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan. The defeat of the Soviet’s was due to collaboration among various tribal leaders. The Soviet withdraw and the shift in American foreign policy allowed the emergence of new rivalries and coalitions among different Afghan groups, such as the non-Pashtuns and Pashtuns, Sunnis v Shias, Ghilsais v Durranis and also among the Pashtun tribes themselves. The Soviet withdrawal, ultimately, led to a civil war among local warlords and created a vacuum of power for the Taliban to emerge. There are many variables for why the Taliban emerged, such as: rape, lack of government, looting, warlords, the misery of Afghan citizens, which all prompted the Taliban to disarm local populations and impose Sharia law. Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, looked at the rape and the murder of boys, specifically, as a primary reason to form the Taliban (Akbar, 2015, pp.213-216).

An insurgency is defined by the United States government as ‘the organised use of subversion and violence to seize, nullify or challenge political control of a region’. Insurgencies have been present throughout history as a form of warfare, however combatting an insurgency has always been difficult even in the modern era. In recent operations in Afghanistan, religious extremism and ethnic intolerance have given rise to fanatical groups that pose complex challenges which threaten social and political stability. These group utilise all available means in order to gain an advantage as they struggle for “the acceptance by the people of the state or region of the legitimacy of one side’s claim to power”. Results of this include the exploitation of the Laws of Armed Combat (LOAC) and the rules of engagement (ROE) used by COIN forces.