As the United States approaches the somber 25th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks, President Donald Trump’s new counterterrorism strategy continues to give high priority to the threat posed by Islamist jihadist groups.
The new strategy, signed by Trump on May 6, cites jihadist groups capable of “the intent and capabilities to execute External Operations against the United States” as a major threat – second only to drug cartels.
It names Al-Qaeda – especially its most aggressive subgroup, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – and ISIS, particularly its most active branch ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), as the groups Washington is most concerned about.
In addition to these groups, the strategy also names Al-Shabaab, a Somali ally of Al-Qaeda, as a major regional threat in East Africa. The strategy says that Washington will monitor the evolving alliances between the Sunni Al-Shabaab and the Houthis in Yemen, an Iran-aligned Shiite group.
“Our CT Strategy is predicated on maintaining and increasing that pressure on those groups until they no longer pose a threat to the homeland because they are destroyed,” the strategy says, defining this as its core aim in the Middle East.
In Africa, Washington will continue to partner with governments threatened by Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and their affiliates.
“[We] will assist them with actionable intelligence and CT partner-force development until our shared foes no longer pose a serious threat to either them or us,” the report emphasized.
Colin Clarke, executive director of the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank, said that the focus on jihadist groups is one of the few parts of the strategy that it gets right.
“Jihadist groups are still a major issue for the United States,” he told MBN. “It doesn’t go into depth or detail that I’d like to see, particularly on groups like ISIS-K or Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.”
The strategy also commits to efforts aimed at preventing these groups from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Al-Qaeda reportedly explored acquiring nuclear weapons before the 9/11 attacks. ISIS previously considered obtaining chemical weapons when it controlled large swathes of Syria and Iraq a decade ago.
In a potentially controversial development likely to be hotly debated across the Islamic world, the strategy has defended the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The move was aimed at hindering its ability to “recruit and fund terror against the United States.”
After taking office last year, President Trump issued an executive order that declared the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Lebanese chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as FTOs.
“We will continue to designate its branches across the Middle East and beyond as FTOs to crush the organization everywhere it operates,” the strategy pledged.
Interestingly, the strategy doesn’t mention the threats posed by the myriad militant groups operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which were major targets of the U.S.-led Global War on Terror since 9/11.
In the latest edition of the Global Terrorism Index from the Institute of Economics and Peace, a think tank headquartered in Sydney, Australia, fatalities from terrorism globally have fallen substantially during the past year.
Pakistan, however, has experienced a sharp rise in terrorist attacks. It has emerged as the country most impacted by violence fomented by Islamist and separatist militant groups.
Abubakar Siddique
Abubakar Siddique is a journalist and author focused on the broader geopolitical landscape of South Asia and the Middle East.
