New ASP Report Finds Increase in Global Terror Attacks, Hot Spots in Somalia and Russia, and a Dampening of the “Obama Effect”
April 29, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Selena Shilad
(202) 550-2547
Washington, DC – An American Security Project mid-year update to their annual report on global terrorism trends today showed several trends that raise serious concerns about U.S. counterterrorism policy, including a dramatic increase in Islamic violence in the Middle East, a worsening situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, new “hot spots” of violence in Somalia and Russia, as well as a dampening of the initial “Obama effect” in the Muslim world.
According to ASP Chairman of the board and former U.S. Senator Gary Hart, “100 days into the new Administration, the recent spate of suicide bombings in Iraq and the dramatic increase in Islamic terrorist violence around the globe provide great cause for concern and highlight the serious need to reassess our goals and policies in the struggle against global Islamic terrorism.”
“We have redoubled our commitment to Afghanistan, increased the number of predator strikes in Pakistan, and continue to stress the need for an activist American role in the Middle East and South Asia, yet incidents of Islamic terrorism are nearly ten times more common today than they were in the 1990’s, and we now see causes for concerns in areas where we didn’t have them before,” continued “Are We Winning” author and ASP Senior Fellow Dr. Bernard Finel.
The mid-year report specifically found that terror attacks by Islamist extremists accelerated dramatically in 2008 with the most significant increases in Islamist violence occurring in Pakistan, Somalia, Russia, and the Philippines. Outside of the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, and excluding attacks in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, there were 670 attacks by Islamic extremist groups, with 214 alone occurring in the fourth quarter.
In Pakistan and Afghanistan, territory controlled by the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban has also increased, and by some estimates, in Afghanistan, the Taliban now has a persistent presence in roughly 75% percent of the country, up from 50% last year. Finel also discussed the dampening “Obama effect” in the Muslim world and the need to monitor the effects of the deepening economic crisis on the Muslim world. In spite of initial optimism in the Muslim world following the election of President Obama, there is no evidence to suggest that the United States has overcome the damage done to its standing by several unpopular Bush Administration policies, including the war in Iraq and treatment of detainees. American support of Israel during the recent Gaza incursion seems to have slowed any initial momentum toward improving the image of the United States in the Muslim world. Furthermore, Approval of al Qaeda has increased in Egypt and approval of the United States has decreased in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
ASP’s bipartisan orientation, transparent methodology, comprehensive metrics, and consistent findings make the “Are We Winning” series of reports the most trustworthy available analysis of terrorism trends and the effectiveness of American counter-terror policies.
To download the entire report, click here.
The American Security Project (ASP) is a non-profit, bipartisan public policy research and education initiative dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of a range of national security and foreign policy issues. It is organized around the belief that honest public discussion of national security requires an informed citizenry—one that understands the dangers and opportunities of the twenty-first century and the spectrum of available responses. ASP was formed to help Americans—from opinion leaders to the general public—understand how national security issues relate directly to them, and to explain challenges and threats in a way that spurs constructive action.
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