The Threat of the Haqqani Network

The Taliban are a part of history and people should be aware of who they are and what they do. The Taliban has evolved over the years and unfortunately have grown stronger over the years. They started off as a group of students and it is sad to know that these students who could have started with a good future ended up being a part of a terrorist group. They think they are doing right because they may read the Quran but they only focus on the words and passages they want to hear and say to defend their terrorist group without reading the passage or verse fully and trying to understand the real words of Allah. The Taliban have been around for a long time and as a result the Taliban havetaken over territory such as Afghanistan and many others. One of the territories the Taliban has is Afghanistan and the government is seen as corrupted because they help the Taliban. Corruption may exist anywhere but would the Afghan government be supporting the Taliban with weapons because they want to or because of fear?

The rise of Al Qaeda is an instrumental starting point in providing context to this discussion as the group was held responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Centre. Al Qaeda’s upcoming was accelerated after 10 years of conflict (from 1978 until 1989) in Afghanistan between the Soviets and Afghan insurgent groups. The Communist Government

Muhammad Khalil al-Hukaymah is the organizations presumed founder (Winter, 2011, p. 886). Considered a “raising star” in the jihadi movement, al-Hukaymah was designated as Al-Qaeda’s chief propagandist from 2006-2008 (Winter, 2011, p. 886). Fitting the profile of many ranking al-Qaeda leaders, he traveled extensively through Afghanistan and Pakistan in the late 1990’s until the fall of the Taliban in 2002 (Winter, 2011, p. 886). He fled to Pakistan via Iran where he

Taliban - the world's most extreme and radical Islamic organization that inspires fascination, controversy, and especially fear in both the Muslim world and the West - has been brought into sharp focus in Ahmed Rashid's book "Taliban". This enormously insightful book gives an account of Taliban's rise to power, its impact on Afghanistan and the Central Asian region. The book also analyzes the wider regional and geopolitical implications of the Taliban's advent to power and the role that Taliban has to play in oil and gas companies decisions. The author also discusses about the changing attitudes of various countries like America and Saudi Arabia towards Taliban and its effects on Afghanistan.

This paper covers the origins of the Haqqani network. This document describes the Operational Environment of the Haqqani network and their leadership structure. This document explains the Haqqani network objectives, and the methods they are using to accomplish their goals. The Haqqani network would be unable to accomplish their goals without external support, which comes from Pakistan. Pakistan has a role in supporting the Haqqani network by providing military assistance. The Haqqani network is using direct action techniques in order to achieve their goals. The Haqqani network had one type of leadership until recent. Some of these leaders are a replacement for those that have been captured, killed, or are too ill to perform. The Haqqani

The Taliban is an Afghani and Pakistani terrorist group. They are a large organization, with a religious base. The group, like several other terrorist organizations, have extremist views in relation to Islam. They operate primarily in the Middle East, but also operate elsewhere in the world. In this paper the focus will be on the Taliban’s relationship with the world outside of their comfort zone.

Along with some others, I entered a back apartment on the ground level and sat down on the floor.” (Gordon). Deborah Weiss again displays the horrible acts brought upon by the Taliban. The 9/11 attacks on the U.S. are the most destructible and deadly terror attacks in the history of the world. From 1996-2001 the Taliban did not spread fear past Afghanistan; they were looked at as a small spec in a giant world, they were given no respect. This feeling of being nothing is what fueled the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. Hours after the attacks, president Bush declared war on Afghanistan; a month later the U.S. attacked Afghanistan officially starting the 13 year long war. Later that year, the Taliban government fell and were only seen as a terrorist group. Though the Taliban government had fallen, the group still where the leaders of land in rural areas. The Taliban with the help of al-Qaeda lead for 11 years, until on May 1st, 2011, al-Qaeda leader and head designer of the 9/11 attacks Osama Bin Laden was killed by American troops. President Obama said that it was “the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaeda.” (CNN library). This loss for al-Qaeda proved too much to overcome and were forced to retreat in the war to prevent losing anymore generals or troops. Without al-Qaeda’s support, the Taliban stood no chance and in 2014, the U.S. took all troops out of

With recent operations by the Pakistani military and drone attacks by the US, these safe-havens are being attacked, but they remain a major refuge for the Taliban and other insurgents. Complicating the matter are allegations of Pakistani Intelligence (ISI) support for the Taliban and Pakistani fears of Indian influence in Afghanistan.

Although the Taliban’s territory is distinctly Afghanistan, their Pakistani foundation resonates throughout much of their history and structure as an international support and through their ties with the Al-Qaeda. Their Afghan origins and influence began in 1994 in Southern Afghanistan following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan as a counter to the pro-communist government. From their onset in Southern Afghanistan, the Taliban acquired a great deal of power and influence. Through armed force and following the ousting of the pro-communist President Mohammad Najibullah by the Mujahedeen forces, the Taliban successfully took Kabul in 1996. Their political success manifested in them forming a government from September 1996 to December 2001. They maintained this control and power, despite international condemnation on human rights’ grounds. In fact, by 1998 they controlled around 90% of Afghanistan (Yung, 2007). However, their influence was not enough to capture the north-western part of Afghanistan, which remained in the hands of the Northern Alliance. The Taliban enjoyed a great rise of power in the early stages of the organization and throughout this decade of control their structures and objectives evolved with some success. Around the early 2000s and the attacks of September

Since the reign of the Taliban and constant conflict, Afghanistan has yet to establish a stable economy and functional administration. This lack of administration has left the country open to weak economic development. The country has seen failures in the processes of trying to establish businesses and many impediments in private-sector production and investment such as an underdeveloped financial sector and infrequent access to finances. It has seen a severely underdeveloped labor market, and very poor social welfare programs. Afghanistan sees very low education rates and mass unemployment. The country also sees a problem with resource and economic distribution. This poverty, underdevelopment, and instability are often associated with country’s that are willing to be safe havens for terrorists. Because of these poverty and instability conditions Afghanistan has created a country where rational terrorist see a high opportunity cost and a low risk to their actions

On April 2nd, 2018, in the Dasht-e Archi District of Afghanistan, the Afghan Air Force, their motives completely different, targeted a group of Taliban elders, and started an air strike, resulting in many casualties and deaths. The Afghan government initially blamed the Taliban for this tragic event, resulting in 250 casualties, fifty-nine of them being killed, and the other one hundred and twenty being severely injured, and whisked away to be helped. It is tragedies such as this one that make people wonder about the Taliban’s whereabouts today, especially since the time of their overthrow since 2001.

America and Pakistan have different goals in Afghanistan. While Washington wants to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, Pakistan wants them to stop violence in its territories and to capture power in Kabul. Islamabad sees the Afghan war as an opportunity to strengthen its military, with Western support, to fend off India and lean on New Delhi to resolve the Kashmir dispute. From Pakistan’s perspective, the Taliban jihadists -- trained in Pakistani madarsas and supported by the Inter-Service Intelligence, the military spy agency – will make the best allies in Kabul and help augment the anti-Indian jihad in Kashmir.

The Taliban is one of the most notorious militant Sunni Islamic political groups in the world. The majority of people have heard the name “Taliban” before. It is a name that carries hate, confusion, and love depending on the person. However, many don’t understand what the Taliban is and how it came about. Some just consider them a radical terrorist group and some see them as a historic change in government. This paper is going to explain: who the Taliban are, why they do what they do, and how they came about.

What is terrorism? The conceptual literature on terrorism provides a deluge of definitions. Nonetheless, scholars agree the term terrorism should include at least two essential attributes: the use of violence and a political motive (Lake, 2002; Pape, 2003; Enders & Sandler, 2011). Controversy arises when we try to specify the perpetrators and targets of terrorism. Some researchers hold the actions of governments can be labeled “terrorism” (Nairn & James, 2005), yet conventional wisdom restricts the definition of terrorism to actions of individuals and subnational groups (Lake, 2002; Pape, 2003; Enders & Sandler, 2011). Broadening the definition of terrorism to actions of governments is not of the interests of policy makers whose primary concern is counterterrorism strategies, nor does it help to differentiate war crime from terrorism. Similarly, most scholars do not consider attacks against military targets (in a combat zone) to be terrorism. However, the term “combat zone” could be tricky. For example, Al-Qaeda claims the whole world is its combat zone while the U.S. perceives its combat zone as the battlefields in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other regions of the Middle East. In practice, the inclusion of the combat zone“ makes the definition of terrorism too political and hard to operationalize, and therefore scholars generally do not attach it to the definition of terrorism. To summarize, to strike a balance between extension and intension, I identify four attributes that are

However, Pakistan has made international claims that they have used security measures from the United Nations. They have stated that their security covers all areas of nuclear security and is an updated version of their previous security system. Pakistan says they have created nuclear portals which monitor trafficking nuclear weapons. While Pakistan has made claims, specific examples show their system has it’s flaws and does not deserve the credibility they have asked for. Chashma-Kundian, and Wah Cantonment are nuclear facilities located near Taliban controlled areas. Each nuclear facility is at risk of being attacked. Wah Cantonment has already faced numerous suicide bombings. Terrorist factions in Pakistan are a particular threat because they are the fastest growing in the region. One particular group, the Tehrik-e Taliban are collectively made up of around forty jihadist organizations. The Tehrik-e Taliban are said to be linked to the Afghan Taliban and insist on the need to fight the U.S. In a statement made by the Director of U.S. Intelligence, Mike McConnell, he said, “In the last year, the number of terrorist attacks and deaths were greater than the last six years combined.” Since Benazir Bhutto, former prime mister of Pakistan was assassinated; terrorist activity has increased because they share a border with the jihadists