Religious Extremism

UN: Taliban Consolidating Power Over Jihadists in Central Asia

March 10, 2021

The UN Security Council has released a report that the Taliban has consolidated its control inside Afghanistan over the local al Qaeda affiliate, as well as within key jihadist groups operating across the geopolitically crucial states of Central Asia, highlighting the ineffectiveness of the Doha Peace Agreement brokered by the US for a Taliban-Kabul government power-sharing arrangement.
Tunisia’s Islamist Extremism Problem

March 02, 2021

The Washington Institute reports that Tunisia is now focusing on counter radicalization programs as Islamist extremism has deep and continuous historical roots in the country, combining features of active financing and participation in global jihadist activities in Europe and Asia with socially embedded welfare services operations.
Turkey's Islamist Influence Grows in Africa

March 02, 2021

The Africa Report writes that Turkey’s Islamist government has accomplished its strategic goal of becoming a major geopolitical actor in Africa, using a combination of economic hard power incentives and religious-cultural soft power through mosque construction to develop a continent-wide profile that is designed to expand the longterm influence-building goals across Africa.
Egypt's Textbook Reform Highlights Islamist Radicalization

March 02, 2021

Egypt's Ministry of Education has begun the implementation of textbook reforms in public schools as part of a larger curricular overhaul that lays bare the Islamist radicalization potential in the education system.
Pakistan PM: Islam a Religion of Peace

February 19, 2021

Pakistan Today reports that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan called on the country’s Islamic clerics and legal scholars to become active in combatting islamophobia in Western countries that don’t recognize that “Islam as a religion of peace”.
Death Sentence for Murder of Bloggers by Islamists in Bangledesh

February 15, 2021

AP news reports that Bangladesh's Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal meted out the death sentence to eight Islamist extremists convicted for a murder spree that saw publishers and bloggers hacked to death because of ideas deemed anti-Islamic by the local IS militants.
Saudi Arabia Attempts Rebrand of Wahhabi Extremism

February 15, 2021

The blog Mideastsoccer writes that Saudi Arabia’s political leadership has launched a series of actions designed to appeal to Western state leaders and investors critical of the country’s poor human rights record, including the removal of anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-Shiite hate speech, while maintaining the restriction of non-Muslim houses of worship and arbitrary arrests.
Pakistan Released US Journalist's Killers

February 15, 2021

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled in favor of acquitting and releasing all four Islamist militants accused of the 2002 killing and beheading of US Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, in a move underscoring Pakistan's permissive environment for Islamist terrorism.
IS Gains in Mozambique Highlight Goal of Capturing Natural Resource Wealth

February 10, 2021

The incremental territorial gains by Mozambique's local IS-affiliated militants reflects the strategic goal of full capture and control over the country's natural resources for financing jihadist operations as well as the growing collaboration between local, regional, and transnational Islamist extremist groups in expanding the geography of jihadism.
Survey Data on Iran Show Trend of Societal Demands for Reform

February 08, 2021

A detailed online survey on Iranians' attitudes towards religion conducted by a Dutch non-profit organization indicates widespread support for rolling back state interference in society, including an end to Islamic religious limits on individual freedoms around gender, speech, and family life, and education.