Twenty Years after 9/11, Germany Still Struggling with Militant Islamists
Twenty years ago, Islamist terror was still largely an unknown for German security authorities. Now, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has a newly established Islamist-Motivated Terrorism/Extremism Department. Around 500 criminal investigators, scientists, translators, and analysts work there to investigate Islamists, monitor dangerous individuals, and try to prevent attacks.
Sven Kurenbach still remembers the images of the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsing and the spontaneous minute of silence at the Berlin police department that followed. When Islamist terrorists weaponized passenger planes on September 11, 2001 — killing nearly 3,000 people — Kurenbach was still head of inspection for the Berlin police’s special units. Today he is Germany’s top investigator into jihadist activities.
Twenty years ago, Islamist terror was still largely an unknown for German security authorities, Kurenbach recalled recently at an event organized by “Mediendienst Integration” in Berlin. Just a dozen officers at the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) had been dealing with it.
Since 2019, Kurenbach has headed the newly established Islamist-Motivated Terrorism/Extremism Department of the BKA. Around 500 criminal investigators, scientists, translators, and analysts work there to investigate Islamists, monitor dangerous individuals, and try to prevent attacks. Just recently Germany arrested a major suspected fund raiser for the “Islamic State.”
Terror Emirate Afghanistan?
The fact that two decades after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Taliban flag is once again flying over Kabul worries Kurenbach.
“My fear is that the Taliban will tolerate a wide variety of terrorist organizations on their territory and that there will be training camps again,” he told DW. “They have always been there, especially in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Kurenbach points to organizations that have disappeared from the headlines that already have a German reference in their name, such as the “Deutsche Taliban Mudschahidin” (German Taliban Mujahidin). “They were already making propaganda videos back then in the areas the Taliban controlled in Afghanistan.”
Kerstin Eppert, an Islamism expert from Bielefeld, has observed that various German groups are already exploiting developments in Afghanistan for propaganda purposes. According to her, the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul was “a gift for the movement in Germany. After the downfall of IS in Syria, Islamists are now again talking about a ‘victory for Islam.’”
More Than 1,000 “Dangerous” and “Relevant” Persons
According to police data, the number of so-called “dangerous persons” in the field of Islamist terrorism currently stands at 554, of whom 90 are in custody and 136 live outside Europe — for example in the northern Syrian rebel stronghold of Idlib. The somewhat vague term “dangerous persons” refers to people who police believe could commit “politically motivated crimes of considerable significance.”
