Abstract
Many countries have been faced with terror attacks for quite a long time and have thus developed remarkable measures to safeguard the interests of their citizens during such attacks. Countries like Spain, France, Ireland, and Germany to name a few have been victims for a long time and have embraced terrorist insurance to protect the businesses, lives, and property of the victims of such attacks. Other countries such as the US and Russia have been portrayed to label groups, such as the Chechens and Taliban, that they are not in good terms with as terrorist groups. On the far end, countries such as Afghanistan have been chocked with terrorists with some being supported by the government of Pakistan hence making it hard for the nation to fight effectively the groups that have spread their activities internationally.
Summary
This paper will be looking at the definition of terrorism and types of terrorism. It will further look at the extent terrorism has manifested itself in Afghanistan and the current position of the country regarding the illegal groups. The paper will further analyze how ethical conflicts in other countries especially the Middle East have an impact on the US. It will highlight how the terrorist groups have been an inspiration to US citizens to commit murder in the name of supporting the groups. Moreover, it will discuss the need for local enforcement to monitor world events such as the Boston Marathon which was attacked and three people killed. Ways in which monitoring can be accomplished will be detailed in the paper and the best way this information can be shared to law enforcement agencies.
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Introduction
Under the code of Federal Regulations, terrorism is described as the act of using force unlawfully and violently to cause harm or damage to human or property with the intentions to coerce or intimidate the public or government in order to achieve political or social mileage. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has categorized terrorism under domestic and international terrorism (Shusta et al., 2015). They have further defined domestic terrorism as the unlawful use of violence or threats by a militia group operating within the US or Puerto Rico while international terrorism is committed on US soil by groups based out of the US. Terrorists’ attacks have not spared Afghanistan like many other states. And to make matters worse, at least twenty terrorist groups have been identified to have their bases within and outside Afghanistan hence falling under both categories of domestic and international terrorists of the country.
The Haqqani Network has established bases in North Waziristan and is believed to have close relations with the Pakistan military. Moreover, the infamous Al-Qaeda once led by Osama bin Laden is based in Pakistan but is thought to carry out its activities in the south-eastern and eastern parts of the country (Shusta et al., 2015). On top of that, Daesh which is one of the newest terrorist groups formed is based in Pakistan but has been reported to be behind some of the worst terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. Some other groups support the Taliban group, and they include the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Panjabi militants, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, yet they have vigorous terrorist activities in Afghan. Similarly, groups like the Mujahidin, Maulvi Nazir, Therik-e Taliban Pakistan, and Amre Ba Maroof are believed to come from Pakistan and are used as puppets to destroy the Afghan nation (Shusta et al., 2015). Most of the terrorists are said to use the country as recruitment centers and base for organizing and supporting their fighters.
Impact of Ethnic Conflicts on the United States
Not all these groups that have their bases in Afghanistan are domestic terrorists. Some like the Al-Qaeda are international terrorists and have managed to stage damaging attacks targeting the United States such as the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks. This terrorist attack led to the loss of so many lives, massive destruction of property, and the ruin of several businesses and infrastructure (Lopes, Machado, & Mata, 2016). Another attack that was fueled by religious reasons was the Boston Marathon Bombing where two brothers used pressure cooker bombs to kill three and wound hundreds of people. This attack was set on a day when the US was hosting an international sporting activity, where the bomb exploded just near the finish line. During interrogations, one of the domestic terrorists was quoted as saying that he and his brother were motivated to carry out the bombings by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore, the results of conflicts outside the US seem to impact the country as the two bombers were not connected with any international terrorist group.
Another US citizen inspired by foreign terrorist activities is Mohammad Abdulazeez. Mohammad opened fire on reserve Navy facility and military recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In the attack, a Navy sailor and four US Marines were killed, and the terrorist could not identify a particular group that motivated him. On December 2, 2015, a self-radicalized couple by the names of Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook murdered fourteen people who were at a holiday party (Lopes, Machado, & Mata, 2016). The couple opened fire at the party held at Inland Regional Center in California, San Bernardino (Lopes, Machado, & Mata, 2016). After the attack by the couples, Omar Mateen killed 49 people at a gays’ night club in Orlando. Omar was born in the United States but had sworn loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Similarly, eight people were killed and many others injured when they were run down by a pickup truck driven by Safullo Habibullaevic Saipov. The attacker claimed that he did it under the name of ISIS.
Local law Enforcement Monitoring World Events
It is evident that there are several domestic terrorist attacks in the US than international terrorist attacks hence need for the local law enforcement to identify potential terrorist targets and beef up security in those areas. Some of the potential targets include controversial businesses like abortion clinics, public buildings with large numbers of people, symbolic and historical targets like the Internal Revenue Service, and infrastructure systems. Therefore, law enforcement agencies should be alert to regular citizens committing petty offenses. It was shown that two suspects of the 9/11 bombing had been stopped on different dates on counts of over speeding yet if the officers had scrutinized they might have found incriminating evidence against them (Liu & Pratt, 2017). Furthermore, new technological advances should be employed such as the biometrics. Biometrics involves the use of behavioral traits and the physique to recognize the identity of a person.
The accomplishment of Monitoring Techniques
One of the ways to monitor world events is by the use of the new biometric technological development where facial recognition, fingerprint patterns, the pattern of the iris, and the recognition of voices are employed. This method has been hailed as giving accurate data useful in counter-terrorism. Research on suicide bombers is also crucial as they are believed to share the same psychological profiles and personal characteristics hence comprehensive profiles of the suicide bombers should be made available to the counter-terrorism experts (Kearney, 2018). Furthermore, more attention should be centered towards smuggling as most terrorists are said to raise money for their activities through trafficking.
Products such as cigarettes look harmless when smuggled, and that makes it the main reason terrorists would prefer them as they draw no attention to their activities. Smuggling cigarettes to terrorists are easier and safer compared to other products and more so, have significant profits. These counterfeit cigarettes can be manufactured, transported, and sold quickly in any market (Lopes, Machado, & Mata, 2016). The terrorists use the services of both large scale and small-time bootleggers to discreetly smuggle the contraband from regions where there are no or have low tax jurisdictions to areas where they have higher tax jurisdictions. Law enforcement agencies should focus on fighting this illicit trade if they are to reduce terrorist activities.
Dissemination of Information to Law Enforcement Agencies
While the US has several organs that work hard to collect, develop, and analyze information necessary to combat terrorism, it lacks a system that shares the data throughout its relevant organs. For instance, after the 9/11 attacks, different authorities identified resemblance in terrorist activities in New Jersey, Maryland, and Florida. The events comprised of the suspects visiting drug stores frequently, others paying cash for airplane services, some were asking about crop duster planes, and others took flight lessons (Kearney, 2018). Due to the lack of a system to share the information, it looked harmless. Therefore, there is a need to share information among the security institutions and jurisdictions to ensure that such information that when analyzed collectively has serious implications is used appropriately.
Conclusion
As much as Afghanistan faces threats of terrorism just like other nations, but it is the biggest lair for these organized criminals. Some of the activities that are conducted by these groups are closely followed by innocent civilians and some sympathizers join in the war by blindly following radicals’ wild beliefs. It is, therefore, relevant that security personnel be very keen especially on illicit trade such as cigarette smuggling which appear harmless but which provides funding for terrorist activities. Moreover, security agencies and jurisdictions should start sharing information since they are good at collecting data, but since the data is not shared, it looks harmless but could be the panacea to terrorism.
References
Kearney, M. (2018). Reconceptualizing the peasantry: anthropology in global perspective . London: Routledge.
Liu, A., & Pratt, S. (2017). Tourism's vulnerability and resilience to terrorism. Tourism Management , 60 , 404-417.
Lopes, A. M., Machado, J. T., & Mata, M. E. (2016). Analysis of global terrorism dynamics by means of entropy and state space portrait. Nonlinear Dynamics , 85 (3), 1547-1560.
Shusta, R. M., Levine, D. R., Wong, H. Z., Olson, A. T., & Harris, P. R. (2015). Multicultural law enforcement: Strategies for peacekeeping in a diverse society (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
