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Abstract
This article examines the transformation of the Chechen conflict from a predominately nationalist to jihadist struggle, and compares the similar changes that took place in the Kashmiri insurgency. Using global jihadist strategy and ideology, and the accompanying influence of Al Qaida, both conflicts are shown to have taken on a new ideology and to have expanded beyond previous areas of operation. In both instances, the political leadership wrapped themselves in the mantle of political Islam (Islamism) as ensuing violence led to rapid socioeconomic transformation and social breakdown, thus allowing foreign jihadists to exert power and take up/divert the cause. In the past few years, two main groups originating in Chechnya and Kashmir have taken on Western targets and become more indoctrinated in Al Qaida's global jihadist ideology: the Caucasus Emirate (CE) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The opportunist franchising strategy of Al Qaida could come to play a role in the future of both groups, especially if the CE is able to coalesce into a more unified front. More importantly, the global jihadist attributes of the CE must begin to garner the same attention in the Western world as that of LeT.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Terrorism and Political Violence's anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and Drs. Gordon Hahn, Jeffrey Bale, and Sharad Joshi of the Monterey Institute of International Studies for their ongoing feedback and guidance.
Notes
James Hughes, Chechnya: From Nationalism to Jihad (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007), xi.
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Ibid., 66.
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Jamal, Shadow War (see note 28 above), 13.
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Hahn, Russia's Islamic (see note 58 above), 41.
Ibid., 53.
Ibid., 46.
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Hahn, “Islam, Islamism” (see note 75 above).
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Swami, “Terrorism in Jammu” (see note 26 above), 79.
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Swami, “Terrorism in Jammu” (see note 26 above), 79.
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Stephen Tankel, “Lashkar-e-Taiba: From 9/11 to Mumbai,” Developments in Radicalization and Political Violence (London: International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, April/May 2009), http://www.ps.au.dk/fileadmin/site_files/filer_statskundskab/subsites/cir/pdf-filer/Tankel_01.pdf.
Tankel, “Lashkar-e-Taiba” (see note 83 above).
Vidino, Pantucci, and Kohlmann, “Bringing Global Jihad” (see note 8 above).
Farrall, “How al Qaeda Works” (see note 59 above).