Wohin zieht es die militanten Islamisten?

Zwischen 2003 und 2006 sind die meisten Jihadisten aus Europa in den Irak gereist, um den Kampf der Al-Qaida zu unterstützen. Da die amerikanische Armee die Al-Qaida im Irak erfolgreich zerschlagen hat, verlagern die jihadistischen Bewegungen ihren Kampf nach Pakistan.
Besorgt stellen die westlichen Geheimdienste fest, dass immer mehr westliche Militante in die afghanisch-pakistanische Grenzregion reisen, um die Taliban und Al-Qaida im Kampf zu unterstützen. Oder sie werden dort in Trainingcamps ausgebildet, um Anschläge im Westen zu verüben. Insbesondere viele Briten mit pakistanischen Hintergrund wären in den letzten Jahren in den Trainingcamps ausgebildet worden, von deren Aufenthalt heute nicht viel bekannt ist.

Rob Wainwright, der Direktor von Europol, beschreibt die Situation folgendermaßen:

“We see a pattern which shows Afghanistan and Pakistan seem to have replaced Iraq as preferred destinations for volunteers wishing to engage in armed conflict … We still see that recruits travel to training camps as part of their radicalisation process.“Those who get training on the Pakistani-Afghan border are from various backgrounds — for example European converts and persons with Arab, North African and Turkish backgrounds.”

Brynjar Lia, vom norwegischen Forschungsinstitut FFI, erklärt den Zustrom nach Pakistan:

“There is an increased emphasis on Afghanistan and Pakistan as a jihadi arena in al Qaeda’s online propaganda … The appearance of European jihadis in al Qaeda propaganda material, for example martyrdom videos, suggests the numbers are increasing.”

Der belgische Politzeioffizier Alain Grignard behauptet in der April-Ausgabe von CTC Sentinel:

“Not since before 9/11 have we seen as many people travel towards the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict region.”

Anne Stenersen,vom norwegischen Forschungsinstitut FFI, sagt:

“My general impression is the flow of fighters is definitely not as big as it was in the 1980s, since the situation today is completely different — in the 1980s the jihad against the USSR was more widely accepted, travel was less restricted, etc…

“Today’s fighters who wish to go … would face a number of additional challenges — security services are more alert, drone attacks in the tribal areas, etc.. Also, the groups operating in this region are not a united front, but divided on vital issues such as who to fight — the ‘occupation’ of Afghanistan, or the Pakistani government. (There is) anecdotal evidence of foreign fighters who get caught up in tribal conflicts or end up fighting the Pakistani security forces for self-defence, rather than entering into Afghanistan.”

Quelle: Post Iraq, would-be militants eye Pakistan, in: Reuters – Global News Blog