Wednesday October 28, 2015

I've Been Thinking:

Russia's director of intelligence, Alexander Bortnikov, was quoted in a Russian paper saying that ISIS is making headway in Central Asia, especially in Afghanistan. He added that ISIS is also popping up in Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Up until now, ISIS was recruiting online in these areas and the recruits would then travel to Iraq and Syria. But now it seems that some fighters who have pledged support for ISIS are remaining local.

It is not clear if we are dealing with only future fighters or also with returning fighters.

From the figures that we do have, what is clear is that over 50% of ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq are not local. They are foreign recruits. And the overwhelming percent of those recruits are from Asia - especially Central Asia.

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