DIY Terrorism: A Look at the Paradigm Shift in Daesh’s Recruitment Tactics Through the Lens of Central Asian Foreign Terrorist Fighters

Absztrakt

With Daesh having almost completely lost its hold over Syria and Iraq, it has shifted its strategy towards spreading its brand elsewhere. It has undergone a noticeable shift in its media from attempting to promote travel to the so-called caliphate to promoting attacks on the “far enemy”, or targets outside of Muslim lands. Daesh is lowering the threshold for executing a terrorist attack by promoting a new style of terror attack called ‘Just Terror’ which utilizes easily acquired materials to inflict high casualty attacks. By doing so it is creating a higher frequency of terror attacks by making the attacks more accessible to unskilled extremists. Daesh is codifying these attacks by creating a detailed guideline in their online journals. This has spawned a new type of terrorist known as an ‘enabled attacker’, where they have all of the operational knowledge of a terrorist trained by a terrorist organization without the direct interaction with that terrorist organization. This enables Daesh to spread its brand and have strikes committed in its name without direct involvement in the operation of the attack. Daesh is additionally looking towards recruiting from new regions as their influence in Syria and Iraq is dwindling. Central Asia has been experiencing a growing level of extremism since its involvement in the Soviet-Afghan War, and Daesh is looking to subvert al-Qaeda’s hold on the region through encouraging enabled attackers. It has invested significant resources of its media operations to create propaganda that resonates with disenfranchised Central Asians, and its efforts seem to be garnering it a foothold in the region. As the Daesh-inspired attacks from the Central Asian diaspora increase, Daesh will appear to be the dominant force in the region, which will in turn increase its influence in Central Asia. Daesh will increase its digital campaigns in regions around the world to create a global ‘caliphate’.