A scholar who has closely followed reforms that MBS has made to Wahhabism, an austere form of Islam, explains the changes taking place in the Saudi kingdom and their impact.
Who will replace the man who replaced bin Laden?
Visual News/Getty Images
Gordon Adams, American University School of International Service
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US Afghanistan pullout is not a repeat of failures in other recent wars. “This is not Saigon,” he said. A seasoned foreign policy expert disagrees.
Long time there: U.S. troops maneuver around the central part of the Baghran river valley as they search for remnants of Taliban and al-Qaida forces on Feb. 24, 2003.
Aaron Favila/Pool/AP Photo
The Afghanistan War now has an end date: 9/11/21. Experts explain the history of US involvement in Afghanistan, the peace process to end that conflict and how the country’s women are uniquely at risk.
Yemen’s al-Qaida branch, called al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, is the most dangerous and sophisticated offshoot of the terror group Osama bin Laden founded in Afghanistan in 1988.
AP Photo/Hani Mohammed
Bin Laden’s extremist group had less than a hundred members in September 2001. Today it’s a transnational terror organization with 40,000 fighters across the Middle East, Africa and beyond.
This term ‘jihad’ can include various forms of nonviolent struggles: for instance, the struggle to become a better person.
AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Violent radicals are often described as jihadists. A scholar explains what the word means and why those using the word to justify terrorism are often misrepresenting their sources.
When U.S. troops go home, ethnic militias will likely gain strength.
REUTERS/Parwiz
The US has been at war in Afghanistan since a few weeks after 9/11. Now we are negotiating a peace with the Taliban, the same insurgents who sheltered Osama bin Laden.
Members of the Taliban attend a separate round of peace talks in Moscow in November 2018.
Sergei Chirikov/EPA
A Taliban perspective on recent peace talks for Afghanistan.
People, including the activist group Code Pink, hold signs at the Embassy of Saudi Arabia during a protest about the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Oct. 10, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was no ordinary reporter. His contacts included the Royal Family as well as known terrorists.
South Tower being hit during the 9/11 attacks. The events of September 11 2001 has significantly shaped American attitudes and actions towards fighting terrorism, surveilling citizens and othering outsiders.
NIST SIPA/Wikicommons
Though more consequences are likely to develop in the post-9/11 era, the war on terror, heightened government surveillance and Islamophobia are notable legacies of this early 21st century tragedy.
The World Trade Center burns after being hit by planes in New York Sept. 11, 2001.
Reuters/Sara K. Schwittek
Tricia Bacon, American University School of Public Affairs
An unprecedented onslaught from the US hasn’t destroyed the terrorist organization. What is the secret of its resilience?
Iraqis carry the picture of three men who were kidnapped and executed by Islamic State during a funeral procession in Karbala, southern Iraq, in June 2018.
EPA-EFE/FURQAN AL-AARAJI
The wars against Islamic State and al-Qaida show that military responses may seem to work in the short term but don’t change much in the long run.
A nine-year-old boy plays on his damaged street in Mosul, Iraq in this July 2017 photo. U.S.-backed forces have wrested Mosul from the Islamic State, and the terrorist group lost Raqqa, in northern Syria, last month. Nonetheless the Islamic State is using virtual information sessions to keep its members committed to the cause.
(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Despite the fact that the Islamic State is on the run, the terrorist group still manages to inspire, motivate and maintain the social identity and cohesion of its members. Here’s how.
Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001.
AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer
Tricia Bacon, American University School of Public Affairs
An unprecedented onslaught from the US hasn’t destroyed the terrorist organization. What is the secret of its resilience?
In this photo from Sept. 11, 2001, firefighters work in the ruins of the World Trade Center towers in New York City after an al-Qaida terrorist attack.
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
It’s been 16 years since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Understanding what propelled al-Qaida’s attacks could help guard against further violence.
Convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), and Deputy Director (International) at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University