by Douglas Farah*

Several developments towards the year’s end show what a good few months it has been for the worldwide jihadi movement. These are not marginal shifts in the success of the Salafist military project, but significant gains that demonstrate some of the contours of the growing, armed movement that would like to eliminate us.

Among them:

Significant advances in Somalia, creating a geographic base and state absent since being driven from Afghanistan;

The succeessful establishment of a virually independent Taliban state in northern Pakistan, allowing for a constantly-growing ability to challenge NATO militarily and the coordination of training and fighting with foreign fighters;

The dominance of their political discourse by allies in the debate in Europe and the United States;

The successful creation of an information and education sharing network that allow successful tactics in one region to be exported in short order to other groups-i.e. from Iraq to Afghanistan. My full blog is here.

*Counterterrorism Blog
December 11, 2006
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/12/
why_the_jihadis_are_feeling_go.php
Cross-posted with permission