‘Over the Horizon’ Counter-Terrorism Strategy | First-Ever Colorado River Water Cuts | Why Are Earthquakes So Devastating in Haiti?, and more

He also told of his love of Sharia law, writing: ‘I am not an advocate for liberty, freedom and democracy and believe that the Shari’ah and Islam are a perfect and better way of life.’ The father-of-five, who is on a United Nations terrorist list, was jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2016 for inviting support for IS, but was released in 2018 after serving less than half the sentence. He was freed on licence under strict conditions, which included observing a night-time curfew at his home in Ilford, East London, and not using social media or the internet. But these restrictions expired last month and Choudary started preaching online again. The 54-year-old set up a new Twitter account, which immediately attracted hundreds of followers, but it was suspended after uproar from anti-extremism activists.

U.S. Warns 9/11 Anniversary Could Inspire Extremist Attacks  (AP)
The upcoming 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as well as approaching religious holidays could inspire extremist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security said in a terrorism alert issued Friday. DHS did not cite any specific threats in the National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin. But it noted that the U.S. is in a “heightened threat environment,” fueled by factors that include violent extremists motivated by racial and ethnic hatred and resentment of restrictions imposed during the pandemic. DHS issues the warnings to alert the public as well as state and local authorities. They reflect intelligence gathered from other law enforcement agencies. The bulletin is an extension of a similar one issued in May that expired on the day the new one was issued. DHS says domestic extremists remain a national threat priority for U.S. law enforcement and will for at least the remainder of the year. The agency noted that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula recently released the first English-language edition of its Inspire magazine in four years, apparently to mark the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The anniversary and the approaching holidays “could serve as a catalyst for acts of targeted violence,” it said.

The Thin Line Between Neo-Nazi Cosplay and Real Terrorism  (Sydney Morning Herald)
Terrorism has fallen down the list of global threats during the COVID-19 outbreak but in an uncertain world, it cannot be forgotten entirely. As the Herald reports today, extremist groups who identify as neo-Nazis are finding plenty of recruits here in Australia and counter-terrorism agencies are increasingly concerned. The risk from these fringe white supremacist, racist groups has moved to the fore as the danger of Islamist terrorist groups – such as Islamic State – has receded, although the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan suggests the need for continued vigilance. It was only two years ago that Australian Brenton Tarrant murdered 51 people in a mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand. A group of young people in a range of rich Western countries seems increasingly drawn to a poisonous narrative that immigrants, and their progressive allies, are submerging traditional white society, and that they must be stopped with violence. In 2011, Anders Breivik, a self-styled neo-Nazi, murdered 77 people in Norway. There were white supremacist overtones in the assault on the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6. While everyone agrees that these acts of terror are appalling, it is harder to know how to respond to the wider ecosystem of ultra-right websites and the social organizations that nurtures them.

Biden’s ‘Over the Horizon’ Counter-Terrorism Strategy Comes with New Risks  (Jason Burke, Guardian)
Joe Biden has said the US will maintain an “over the horizon” counter-terrorism capability to neutralize the threat posed by Islamist extremist groups in Afghanistan. With no troops on the ground, no intelligence-gathering operation in the country and no ally with shared borders, this kind of long-range effort to stop plots targeting the west will not be easy – and is made significantly harder by the range of the organizations based in territory now nominally under Taliban control. What any violent extremist group needs more than anything else is a secure location where it can plan, organize, recruit, strategize and gather resources. Without this, few insurgents and terrorists survive, let alone succeed. Pakistan provided this to the Taliban, greatly aiding their 20-year campaign that ended in victory this week. Al-Qaida had one from 1996-2001 – and it was the prospect of losing the haven that Afghanistan offered that led many of its most senior leaders to oppose Osama bin Laden’s plan to launch the 9/11 attack on the US. Al-Qaida was forced to flee Afghanistan after the war of 2001 but has slowly returned. It does not have anywhere near the extensive infrastructure of 20 years ago when it ran a dozen training camps.”

Afghanistan’s Fall Renews Terrorism Fears for U.S.  (Rebecca Kheel and Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill)
The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban has raised fears that terrorist groups capable of threatening the U.S. homeland will thrive anew amid the chaos.
U.S. military officials are reassessing their previous estimate that al Qaeda could reconstitute as a threat in two years after the Taliban completed its stunningly rapid rise back to power this weekend.
Since first announcing the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in April, the Biden administration has said it will keep terrorism threats in check using forces based elsewhere in the region.
But the debacle of the withdrawal has raised questions about whether the United States has adequately prepared to face threats emanating from Afghanistan.