Tag: Uygur militants

Why China’s belt and road plan is facing threat of jihadist terrorism

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Why China’s belt and road plan is facing threat of jihadist terrorism

Afghanistan and China share a 74km-long border along the mountainous Wakhan Corridor. At Beijing’s insistence, the Taliban relocated TIP militants from Badakhshan province, near the border, to other areas last year. However, some TIP elements are believed to have rebuilt their bases in Badakhshan.

Isis-K’s anti-China rhetoric may also be intended to attract Uygur militants to its fold. The more the Taliban regime curtail TIP activities, the greater the chances of Uygur militants gravitating towards Isis-K. According to a United Nations Security Council report, Isis-K has reached out to disgruntled fighters from other terrorist groups, and as many as 50 Uygur militants have joined it.

Notes for self:

  • ISIS-K, likely supported by the US, is actively recruiting members from groups like TIP, ETIM, and Uygur extremists to target China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
  • According to the Jamestown Foundation, a hawkish think tank, the Voice of Khorasan Magazine is produced by the al-Azaim Foundation for Media Production.
  • It’s noteworthy that ISIS-K adopted a name reminiscent of Voice of America, a US-funded media outlet, which raises questions about potential symbolic connections.

China faces an increase in extremist threats in central Asia, US panel is told

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

China faces an increase in extremist threats in central Asia, US panel is told

Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said that the Islamic State Khorasan (Isis-K) had identified the perpetrator of the suicide bomb attack on worshippers in a mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz in October as a Uygur.

…

US policymakers are paying more attention to the growth of China’s geopolitical influence through programmes like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – which includes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – as Washington’s relationship with Beijing has frayed on multiple fronts.

…

“It used to be the Uygur militants that tended to be responsible for attacks on Chinese diplomats or Chinese businessmen in Kyrgyzstan,” Pantucci added. “Increasingly we see Kyrgyz in general being quite angry towards the Chinese … and we can see similar narratives in Kazakhstan.”

Still, anger against Chinese does not mean that Americans are welcome, Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, founding director at the University of Pittsburgh’s Centre for Governance and Markets, said.

“The US lost so much credibility because of the way it left Afghanistan,” she said. “Regardless of how you may feel about the intervention, regardless of how you may feel about the withdrawal of decision to withdraw the way the US left, I think it left a very bitter taste in the mouth of many people in the region.”

After all that work, instigating terrorists, they’re still not welcome back! Wonder why?! 🙄