The GME Perspective For Islamic Insurgency.

The challenges of insurgency, which China and Russia call terrorism, are identical to those being faced by the other G-20 powers, including Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, India, Korea (south), Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The challenges of Islamic insurgency are becoming as serious as the dangers being posed to world peace by the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) - including biological, chemical and nuclear - with extremist Islamic militancy having emerged from both the Sunni (Neo-Salafi) and Shi'ite (Ja'fari) fringes of the Muslim world.

Neo-Salafis militancy is being spear-headed by al-Qaeda, an offshoot of the banned Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (EMB) which has branches in various parts of the Muslim world including Europe, and Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) which has branches in the other parts of this world including Europe and the GME. Both al-Qaeda and HuT have very violent fighters and suicide bombers. Their extremely violent affiliates include the Taliban of Afghanistan and Pakistan (AfPak). One of the most violent offshoots of HuT (Hizb ut-Tahrir in Arabic meaning the Party for Liberation) is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group which has been fighting beside the Taliban on the AfPak front.

Like al-Qaeda, the EMB and HuT call for a single Muslim Caliphate. With Hamas being EMB's fighting offshoot and now ruling the Gaza Strip, HuT is increasingly more active in the multi-ethnic and impoverished Fergana Valley, which spills across the borders of Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Parviz Mullojanov, director of the Public Committee for Democratic Process, a Tadjik NGO, says: "Hizb ut-Tahrir is a very radical movement, which many people believe has taken root in Uzbekistan and is spreading around the [GME] region from there". He says a combination of poverty, weak government, and huge numbers of young, jobless males in the Fergana Valley have created a perfect storm for Neo-Salafi movements.

Mullojanov has warned: "If economic conditions worsen, this could become the problem of our future". Studies indicate that drug money makes most of the financing for HuT's offshoots like the IMU, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban. Drug-lords and Muslim militants, who share hostility to state authority, make common cause to undermine local governments. Islamists and drug traffickers are interested in each other's support. Both find it perfectly acceptable to use drugs as a weapon of jihad (holy war) against the West and its GME allies.