State Sponsored Terrorist Organization

State Sponsored Terrorist Organization Wesley L. Metcalf According to Taylor Swanson (2016) State, terrorism is defined as Terrorism committed by a national government, inside of its national borders and directed at its citizens and sometimes visitors. The idea behind this type of terrorism is to instill fear into the countrys citizens to coerce them into following a new rule of law. State -sponsored terrorism is where states use terrorist groups as proxies to further their agenda in international affairs. State-enabled terrorism is where states tolerate the presence of terrorists in the country so long as they only attack other states and citizens of other states. The ideologies of the left-wing movement or terrorism are to overthrow the economic, political and social structure of a society and replace it with one developed on Marxist-Leninist principles. They believe in in a single class society where the rich are stripped of their wealth and power and redistributed to the poor. (Taylor Swanson, 2016) The Right-wing movement or terrorist ideologies are very conservative in nature. Their views are varied among different factions within the Right-wing movement in that some discriminate against race and ethnicity, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT), and religious groups such as Muslims. They also share views or beliefs such as politicians, and political parties do not properly represent them, the constitution is being subverted, the government cannot be trusted and is eating away at individual freedoms, and that the government is part of a plot to institute a one world government on US citizens. A country that was designated as a State-sponsor of a terrorist group would be Afghanistan. Afghanistan has given sanctuary and support to the terrorist group Al-Qaida and was listed on the state terrorism list by the United States. Their support has been to give Al-Qaida operatives a place to hide and operate to conduct terrorist acts both in and outside the borders of Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda still operates out of Afghanistan to this day even though the Taliban had been removed from government. According to the website Global policy forum (2017), there have been over 16 different sanctions aimed at Afghanistan and members of Al-Qaida ranging in dates beginning in October 1999 through June 2011. These sanctions were imposed by the United Nations (UN) and fully backed by the United States. Yes, Afghanistan provides a haven for Al-Qaida and the Taliban. I base my answer on the fact that because of the size of the country, its terrain, and its current small size of security forces, there are not enough personnel to monitor the largely unprotected areas where the groups mentioned above can operate and move about undetected. I do not believe Afghanistan has a chance of being taken off the state sponsors of terrorism list. I feel that because of the makeup of its current governing body they will always have sympathizers who believe in the ideologies of the radical groups Al-Qaida and the Taliban. And these sympathizers will do what they can to give haven to the fore mentioned groups above. Afghanistan is considered to be a Failed state. The reason its a failed state is that Afghanistan has a corrupt governing body that lacks the ability to provide basic services to its citizens, it currently depends on support from the US and allied forces to help maintain governing control. Should the US and Allied forces leave the region, it would create a vacuum within the governing body making it susceptible to a coup or governmental overthrow. The state has been in some type and form of conflict continuously since 2001. The size of the country, its mountainous terrain, and the strength of its security forces makes it impossible to protect and secure its borders. Some of the population loyal to the Taliban and Al-Qaida resents the government for allowing US and Allied forces to operate inside Afghanistan borders. The Secretary of State makes the determination of Any country or State that has repeatedly or consistently provided support for or actively Committed acts of international terrorism will be placed on the list of Sponsored nations. The four waves of terrorism are as follows Anarchist wave, the anti-colonial wave, the new left- wave, and the religious wave. The group I have chosen (Al-Qaida) relates in the following ways. As an anarchist wave, Al-Qaida operates as an anti-authoritarian to the current governing body and considers themselves to be a revolutionary force that exists to bring in the rule of Sharia law. As an anti-colonial wave, Al-Qaida has resorted to terrorist types acts to try and overthrow the current governing body and to try to break the will and the spirit of the US and its allies to want to give up and leave Afghanistan. The new left-wave does not apply in my opinion to how Al-Qaida operates. Al-Qaida, in my opinion, is the poster child for the religious wave, their whole desire is to instill the strict laws of the Koran, and ridding the world of those whom the laws of the Koran deem as unworthy or infidels. Bottom line they believe in a religious based extermination that if youre not Muslim, you are to be removed from the face of the earth. References Gunaratna, R. (2002). Inside Al Qaeda. Global Network of Terror. New York: Columbia University Press T Taylor, R.W, Swanson C.R. (2016) Terrorism, Intelligence, and Homeland Security. Boston, Columbus, Global Policy Forum (2017). Retrieved from Global Policy Forum: https://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/index-of-countries-on-the-security-council-agenda/sanctions/49069.html