The Turkestani Children’s Jihad
A pair of anonymous “Middle Eastern security officials” tell CBS News that the Taliban and Al Qaeda affiliates are recruiting young boys in Central Asia. (Patrick Frost says these are US officials saying this. I’m far from convinced.)
“The effort to recruit young boys for the cause has been extended to central Asia. We have reports that this effort may now be up to two years old,” said one senior Middle Eastern security official who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity.
The official says that there have been “maybe a few hundred such cases” of recruitment in Central Asia, particularly in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The reason for recruiting in Central Asia, the sources say, is because the US and international forces are putting “too much pressure” on militants in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border regions. That final bit should set off alarms if nothing else did, especially since this week’s events suggest that militants are moving around just fine. It would also be interesting to know where those recruits have gone. Apparently not to hook up with the IMU in Pakistan, where, as Bruno de Cordier notes in a great article on the IMU and IJU, there are probably only about 500 IMU members total.
Any guesses on who these “Middle Eastern security officials” are? It almost seems like they are suggesting greater US involvement in Central Asian security.
Stumble it! |
Tags: Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Islamism, Tajikistan, Pakistan.
Posted by Nathan on July 15th, 2008
Permalink | Trackback | Comments: 8
Comments
Time: 7/16/2008, 1:35 am
I came across this article last year: don’t know if it’s true or not, but I’d be interested to hear reactions. There were also reports on other press wires in Russian.
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http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=3088
22 May 2007, 16:42
Terrorist accomplice detained in Tajikistan for recruiting teenagers to madrasah studies
Dushanbe, May 22, Interfax - An Iranian citizens has been detained in Tajikistan as accomplice in sending Tajik teenagers to Islamic countries for training in terrorist camps.
‘Iranian citizen Kifoyatullo approached parents of teenagers from 10 to 15 years of age with a proposal to send them for studies in a madrasah’, the Tajik State National Security Committee’s public relations center has stated in a report circulated on Tuesday.
However, the report states, instead of religious education, ‘terrorist organizations abroad, in their desire to cultivate them as mojaheds (fighters for faith) and shahids (martyrs) have trained them (the teenagers - IF) for terrorist actions.
The state committee did not clarify to Interfax which terrorist organizations are implied in the report, just as which countries the teenagers were sent to for training or the number of boys thus recruited.
‘At present the investigation into this case continues’, Interfax was told in the Department.
All the children have been returned to their homeland and no accusations will be leveled against them.
In the recent months, Tajikistan has launched struggle with Islamic manifestations different from traditional ones. Several unregistered mosques were discovered in the republic, while President Emomali Rakhmon subjected the clergy to criticism for seeking to meet their personal needs at the expense of the religious education of the youth.
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There’s also a story about a boy (or 2 boys?) who said they were from Tajikistan found in Waziristan in 2004 during a government raid, but denied to be from Tajikistan by the Tajik authorities.
Haven’t heard anything like this about Uzbekistan though.
Time: 7/16/2008, 1:36 am
I came across this article last year: I’d be interested to hear reactions. There were also reports on other press wires in Russian.
_________________________
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=3088
22 May 2007, 16:42
Terrorist accomplice detained in Tajikistan for recruiting teenagers to madrasah studies
Dushanbe, May 22, Interfax - An Iranian citizens has been detained in Tajikistan as accomplice in sending Tajik teenagers to Islamic countries for training in terrorist camps.
‘Iranian citizen Kifoyatullo approached parents of teenagers from 10 to 15 years of age with a proposal to send them for studies in a madrasah’, the Tajik State National Security Committee’s public relations center has stated in a report circulated on Tuesday.
However, the report states, instead of religious education, ‘terrorist organizations abroad, in their desire to cultivate them as mojaheds (fighters for faith) and shahids (martyrs) have trained them (the teenagers - IF) for terrorist actions.
The state committee did not clarify to Interfax which terrorist organizations are implied in the report, just as which countries the teenagers were sent to for training or the number of boys thus recruited.
‘At present the investigation into this case continues’, Interfax was told in the Department.
All the children have been returned to their homeland and no accusations will be leveled against them.
In the recent months, Tajikistan has launched struggle with Islamic manifestations different from traditional ones. Several unregistered mosques were discovered in the republic, while President Emomali Rakhmon subjected the clergy to criticism for seeking to meet their personal needs at the expense of the religious education of the youth.
___________________________
There’s also a story about a boy (or 2 boys?) who said they were from Tajikistan found in Waziristan in 2004 during a government raid, but denied to be from Tajikistan by the Tajik authorities.
Haven’t heard anything like this about Uzbekistan though.
Time: 7/16/2008, 3:44 am
Hm, this reminds me the stories that circulated in Batken and Osh back in 1999 and 2000 that the IMU had a number of fighters from Ukranian origin as well as female Latvian snipers. 
Time: 7/16/2008, 7:26 am
Dear Partial,
This paragraph:
The state committee did not clarify to Interfax which terrorist organizations are implied in the report, just as which countries the teenagers were sent to for training or the number of boys thus recruited.
Seems to be the key to the story–no details, no countries, no specific organizations. No indication whatsoever that they were headed to FATA. No explanation why of all people an Iranian agent, with no love for Taliban ideas, would be recruiting for them. Seems like bull.
Time: 7/16/2008, 9:21 am
I’ve read the “news” like a week ago. It is highly biased and unbased story. I think it is nothing more than part of the scare tactics campaign and a constant effort to demonize (as if there is a need for that) the Taliban.
Time: 7/18/2008, 1:39 am
Yeh, right, no country, no detail - so it’s all crappy excuses for the gov’t to crackdown mosques, ain’t it?
And terrorist are stupid, they don’t read newspapers, they don’t watch TV and will continue with their plans despite anything, right?
Sounds silly, hm. We Central Asians might be naive but not stupid. Whatever human rights groups and people say, no details will be exposed publicly, they are not going to jeopardize their ongoing efforts to curb terrorist and radical groups.
Time: 10/4/2008, 1:23 am
Please don’t call Central Asia ‘Turkestan’. By doing this you support the panturkists, who are a racist group.
Tajiks are not turks, and Central Asia never has been a turkish land (Turkestan).
Time: 7/16/2008, 12:01 am
$20 says this is from some over-eager GS-9 who read the latest Ahmed Rashid book and thinks all of Central Asia is about to fall to baby-eating Uzbek militants and just had to tell the blogs.