The Islamic State, al-Qaeda-linked groups, Boko Haram and other jihadist movements are protagonists in many of the world’s deadliest crises, complicating efforts to end them. We examine the evolving threat posed by these groups – both in warzones and in other places where they recruit fighters or perpetrate terrorist attacks. Our work – including our 2021 series The Legacy of 9/11 and the "War on Terror" – draws on years of field research across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. Through in-depth and comparative analysis of these groups’ tactics, strategy and ideology, and of the local conditions and wider geopolitical currents that have enabled their growth, Crisis Group aims to inform policies on how best to tackle or contain the threat.
One year after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, fighting has decreased considerably. Yet serious security problems remain, not least the foreign militants still in the country. External actors should press the new authorities to fulfil their commitments and avoid any steps that could reignite large-scale violence.
Al-Qaeda does not currently have the ability to perpetrate large-scale attacks in western countries, nor the intention.
Jailbreaks and prison riots were a central component of IS resurgence in Iraq and are a serious threat in Syria today.
As long as the election cycle and current tensions [in Somalia] drag on, the attention of the political elite will be more inwardly focused, while other priorities lag be...
When the political elite [in Somalia] are focused on each other, attention turns away from the battle against al-Shabab.
Unfortunately, while in much of the world 9/11 is viewed as in the past, in Africa, the legacy of those attacks lives on.
If France is to withdraw [from the Sahel] in a drastic manner as the U.S. did [from Afghanistan], the balance of power is likely to shift in favor of the jihadists.
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