It was a cool, clear sunny morning, the day before Eid ul-Azha, the holy festival of sacrifice, and the second most holy day in Islam. It marks the end of Haj, the pilgrimage that millions of Muslims make every year to Mecca.
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The collapse of the Soviet Union has played a major role in the rise of Islamist terrorism in three significant ways. First of all, it led to a revolution in the thinking of many Muslims about the nature of Western societies – and one should never forget that for most Muslims, the USSR was part of the Western project rather than something at odds with it – and that, in turn, brought about a shift from 1991 to September 11, 2001.
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I first met Mohammed Tahel Shirzad outside the walls of his compound one night in August in 1986. I had no idea who he was, because only one of the four men who had brought me to his house knew two words in English – “good boy”! These he uttered quite a few times as we fled from a Russian offensive, which had surprised us at dawn the previous day.
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This month the world marks the fifth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks in America. So does Diplomaatia – this issue of the magazine looks into the roots and the scope of Islamic terrorism.
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