CST Blog
Status Check: Global Terrorism
12 August 2010
Matthew Levitt, at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, provides a very interesting article concerning the U.S. State Dept's recently released Country Reports on Terrorism for 2009.
It begins as follows
The State Department's recently released Country Reports on Terrorism 2009 (CRT 2009) reveals several important trends in the evolution of global terrorism.
The good news is that al-Qaeda is facing significant pressure, even as the organization and its affiliates and followers retain the intent and capability to carry out attacks.
What remains to be seen is if the dispersion of the global jihadist threat from the heart of the Middle East to South Asia and Africa foreshadows organizational decline or revival for al-Qaeda itself and the radical jihadist ideology it espouses. How governments and civil society alike organize to contend with the changing threat will be central to this determination.
The bad news is that governments and civil society remain woefully ineffective at reducing the spread and appeal of radical Islamist extremism.
The rest of Levitt's article may be read in full here.
