The Shape of Al Shabaab’s Post-Kismayo Attacks
In late September, African Union (AU) forces surrounded the port city of Kismayo on Somalia’s southern coast. The AU troops stood on the threshold of capturing the city from the al Qaeda-af...
African Union
Gitmo’s Troubling Afterlife: The Global Consequences of U.S. Detention Policy
Closing the camps in Guantánamo Bay won't address the real problems with noncriminal incarceration.
Op-eds
A Palestinian Flanking Maneuver
If the U.N. awards the status of 'non-member state' to the Palestinians, the Oslo Accords will be left in tatters.
Op-eds
Shabaab’s Godane Releases Eid Message
Shabaab leader Ahmad Abdi Godane (a.k.a. Mokhtar Abu Zubayr) released an audio statement on Saturday commemorating Eid al-Adha that was posted on the pro-Shabaab Calamada website. Here I excerpt...
Op-eds
Shabaab Threatens Britain Over Extradition of Abu Hamza al Masri
Co-authored by Lisa Lundquist Yesterday the Somali terror group Shabaab threatened to attack Britain for extraditing radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al Masri, who arrived in the...
Op-eds
Is Al-Qaeda Defeated?
Its ideology is not — and ideology matters.
Op-eds
Reports of Al Qaeda’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Al Qaeda is returning to the shadows. The experiment by al-Shabab, al Qaeda's Somali affiliate, of attempting to govern a broad area in Somalia's south officially came to a close...
Op-eds
Shabaab Suicide Bombers Attack New Somali President, Kenyan Foreign Minister
Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia and East Africa, sent three suicide bombers to attack Somalia's new president and Kenya's foreign minister as they were speaking at a hotel...
Op-eds
Shabaab Leaders Divided? Not Quite
Has a rift developed between Shabaab's top leaders over the group's decision to formally join al Qaeda, in the face of pressures from the Somali, Ethiopian, and African Union offensive...
Op-eds
Pariah State: Examining Sudan’s Support for Terrorism
***This article originally appeared in "State Sponsorship of Terrorism", a publication of IHS Defense, Risk and Security Consulting, in June 2012. Reproduced with permission © IHS (Global...
Op-eds
Assessing Interpretations of the New Bin Laden Documents
The documents recovered from Abbottabad that were released on Thursday represent the largest new trove of i...
Op-eds
Shabaab Abandons Western City as Ethiopian Troops Advance
As Ethiopian forces continue to press their offensive in Somalia, Shabaab forces have relinquished control of a key southern city that has been under the terror group's control for three yea...
Op-eds
Shabaab Formally Joins al Qaeda
Shabaab and al Qaeda have announced their formal merger, according to a video disseminated online today and translated by the SITE Intelligence group. In the video, Mukhtar Abu al Zubayr (a.k.a....
Op-eds
Shabaab Names New Leader of Kenyan Branch
Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, has designated a radical Kenyan preacher who has advocated jiha...
Op-eds
Shabaab Publishes IDs, Information on Slain Burundian Soldiers
Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked terror group based in Somalia, announced on Radio Furqaan that it has the identification car...
Op-eds
Suicide Bomber Kills 15 Somalis in Mogadishu
A Shabaab suicide bomber killed 15 Somalis in an attack in Mogadishu today as Kenyan forces advance against the terror group in the south. The suicide attack occurred near the old foreig...
Op-eds
Sudan’s Elections: What Now?
With all but the cynically duplicitous, willfully blind, or invincibly ignorant acknowledging that the elections in Sudan last week were more of a farce than a demonstration of the Sudanese peopl...
Op-eds
China Goes on Safari
By Dr. J. Peter Pham Understandably, the foreign policy focus of United States policymakers and media has been trained lately primarily on the ongoing events in the Greater Midd...
Op-eds
São Tomé and Príncipe: An African Exception?
That the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe might somehow escape the various "traps" – ethnic conflict, the "resource curse," poor governance, etc. – en...
Op-eds
Beyond Mugabe’s Madness
Even by the ridiculously low procedural standards of Africa's club of presidents-for-life, last Friday's poll in Zimbabwe was a truly pathetic exercise. As Barry Bearak, the Pulitzer Pr...