Analysis Of The News Report Isis Claims Responsibility For Afghanistan Suicide Bombing That Killed 34 Students (Independent, 2018)

Afghanistan – “Isis claims responsibility for Afghanistan suicide bombing that killed 34 students” (Independent, 2018)

Introduction:

This essay will analyse the news report by the Independent titled “Isis claims responsibility for Afghanistan suicide bombing that killed 34 students” written by the staff and agencies. The attack was on a predominately Hazara school, which are an ethnic Shia group on the 15th of August. The attack commenced at the building where students were prepping to undertake a university entry examination in the Shia area in the west of Kabul called Dasht-e-Barchi (Independent, 2018). On Wednesday afternoon on the 15th August 2018, an incomer arrived at the high school and sprinted to the upper floors and executed a suicide bombing (Constable & Hassan 2018). The Afghan Ministry of Public Health stated that 34 students died whilst 57 were injured (Independent, 2018). According to the Washington Post, this was the most lethal attack this city has faced in several years (Constable & Hassan, 2018). This attack was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (Islamic State).

This essay will firstly analyse the motivations for such an attack. Secondly, it will discuss the underlying causes of the attack. Thirdly, this essay will discuss whether this act by the Islamic State can be considered terrorism. Fourthly, it will discuss the legitimacy of such of this act. Fifthly, it will provide the counter-terrorism measures that the Afghan government have employed. Sixthly, it will discuss the appropriateness of the media report. Finally, there will be a conclusion.

Motivations:

The most significant motivation of the Islamic State when analysing this specific act is religion. The reason why they target the Hazaras is due to the Islamic State seeing them as apostates (Mengli & Bruton, 2018). However, in order to fully indulge on its motivation, we need to comprehensively understand the Islamic State’s ideology with particular interest on how much religion plays a part. Martin (2013, p.161) argues that the chief enthusiasm of the Islamic State’s political, ideological and social agenda is religion. Religion is the main motivator that exists at the core of the Islamic State’s agenda (Martin, 2016, p.135). This is backed up by Atran and Gomez et al (2017, p.673) who, during their research interviewing the soldiers of the Islamic State, argued one of the three factors that motivate these fighters is their pledge to sacred values, meaning religion. In terms of ideology the Islamic State is a Salafi jihadist organisation that follows an extreme Salafi version of Sunni Islam (Wilson, 2015, p.178 & Cockbum, 2016, p 29). The Islamic State, following this version of Islam, wants to create a caliphate that resembles Islam in its early period (Speckhard, 2014) arguing that they offer the “true Islam” (Olidort, 2015). The Muslims who do not follow their Islam are claimed to be apostates and the Shia Muslims do not follow this Islam. Using this analysis, it is clear that religion plays a direct role on the Islamic State and can be argued is the most significant reason for the attack on the specific school.

Another motivation that is closely related with religion is that the Islamic State wants to purify Islam from the Shias and therefore they actively engage in religious cleansing. The Islamic State actively exercise their anti-Shia approach because they believe the Shias are evil (Martin, 2013, p.78) and have painted them as such. This is further amplified by the Islamic States founder, Al-Zarqawi, who defined the word ‘kuffar’, an offensive meaning for non-believers, as any Sunni who does not believe in the Salafi version of Islam and all Shias (Weiss & Hassan, 2016, p.14). Through this definition, the Islamic State clearly want to target the Hazaras due to them being a kuffar. The targeting of Shias has not been contained to Afghanistan alone, with the Islamic State killing Shias in areas they use to control. The most prominent example is the Camp Speicher massacre where the Islamic state separated the Shias from the Sunnis cadets and killed 1600-1700 Shia soldiers (Tawfeeq, Basil, Fantz & Morganstein, 2014). This shows how the Islamic State’s ideology surpasses locality and encompasses globality.

While the role of religion cannot be understated, there are certainly other motivations for the attack committed by the Islamic State. One reason for the attack was ISIS’s goal of achieving a global Islamic caliphate. A caliphate is a state under the ‘caliph’, which is an Islamic religious leader that is a direct heir to Prophet Muhammad, that is consequently the leader of the entire ‘ummah’, which means community (Kadi & Shahin, 2013, p.83). ISIS have claimed that al- Baghdadi has a direct lineage to Prophet Muhammad hence his appointment as the caliph of ISIS (Johnson, 2014). ISIS want a global caliphate and have detailed their goals in their magazine called Dabiq. They stated, during their 5th edition under its English language version of the magazine, that they want their increase their land size until their “blessed flag …covers all eastern and western extents of the Earth, filling the world with the truth and justice of Islam and putting an end to the falsehood and tyranny of jahiliyyah (ignorance), even if America and its coalition despise such” (Joscelyn, 2015). Therefore, one of their underlying causes is the goal of establishing an Islamic dreamland which wants to eradicate statehood sovereignty for God’s rule (Gerges, 2016, p.223). Hence, their attack on the Hazara was not only religiously motivated but territorially motivated too as Afghanistan is really important to ISIS. The reason for Afghanistan’s importance is due to the province being historically known as Khorasan (Roul, 2015 & Roddio, 2015), which consists of Afghanistan being located at the heart of Khorasan with five bordering states. This province fits in with the Islamic States goal with bringing Islam back to its past glory (Martin, 2013, p.81). In addition, the Islamic State want to increase its power and influence in Afghanistan’s unpassable mountains in order to use it as a foundation for the whole region (Al Jazeera, 2015). These points explain why IS are motivated to penetrate Afghanistan and why they are committing violent acts against the Afghan population, especially against the Shias.

Finally, another motivation is that they wanted to use this act in order to forcefully communicate with civilians in order to create a climate of terror that would inhabit the minds of the targeted people (Schmid, 2005, p.141). It can be argued that the Islamic State wants to create further fear in the Afghan people in order to make the people and the various ethnic groups turn against each other. This is backed by Burke (2015), a journalist who writes about Salafi jihadism, who argues that the Islamic State want to “terrorise, mobilise and polarise”. This is further agreed by McCants (2015), an academic at the Brookings Institution, who argued that leaders of the Islamic State have understood the usefulness of violence and its worth of frightening normal people. There has been persistent ethnic tension between the different groups in Afghanistan for decades and the Islamic wants to exploit the situation.

Underlying causes:

With regard to underlying causes, an aiding prerequisite of the Islamic State is the frailty of the state that it operates in. The inability or reluctance of the government of that state, to thwart terrorism, is the number one reason political reason in the classification of “permissive causes” (Crenshaw, 1981, p.382). The Afghan government is weak and do not have enough money to fund their military and police force to control the country. Kunar and Nangarhar, where the Islamic State is operating are essentially lawless places (Mahbob, 2013) hence why the Islamic State are situated there. The reason why the Islamic State attacked the school can be argued was due to their confidence of not being stopped by the police or government.

Furthermore, the subsequent breakdown of the Syrian state and the Assad government on one hand, and the ineffectiveness and weakness of the Iraqi state on the other hand (WorldsApaRT 2015, 5:20), is another underlying reason why the Islamic State have spread to Afghanistan with relative ease. One can argue that the reason why the Islamic State have thrived, not only in Afghanistan but elsewhere too, is due to the United States military invasion of Iraq in 2003, under the assumption that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (Mortimer, 2017). Had Saddam Hussein stayed in power in Iraq there would have been no Islamic State (Mortimer, 2017). This is further backed up by David Kilcullen, who was a senior United States military advisor, arguing that there would have been no Islamic State had the US not invaded Iraq (Channel 4 News, 2016). The occupation of Iraq led to the political, economic and social destabilisation of that state which meant terrorist groups were able to penetrate Iraq (Gerges, 2016, p.24). This led to the Islamic State taking advantage of this situation and employing the Sunni version of Islam as the central pillar. Essentially, the rise of the Islamic State in unstable Arab states has been a catalyst for their penetration in other countries, for example, Afghanistan.

Another underlying factor is the mental health factors that may have contributed to the attack. Afghanistan has been at war since the Soviet invasion in 1979, that is 40 years of war and this will inevitably have an effect on the Afghan population, especially the young men (Rasmussen, 2015). It is inevitable that young Afghan men would have gone through a momentous event in their lives, for example the death of their family member due to the Afghan or foreign military, therefore these men will be more inclined to participate in political violence (Martin, 2003, p.70). Furthermore, “psychological motivation for terrorism derives from the terrorist’s dissatisfaction with his personal life” (Martin, 2003, p.70), hence we can argue that the attack on the school was due to young men feeling dissatisfied with their own lives.

Identity is a very important factor when considering why this attack took place. The importance of identity politics cannot be understated as religion can provide a powerful foundation for identity, especially in war zones (Gerges, 2016, p.25). This can be used to propose that the reason why the attacker joined the Islamic State and committed an attack was due the Islamic State giving him a sense of belonging. Further to this we can argue that the reason why people join this group is due to their anger at western imperialism and subsequently want to join a group that resists these forces.

The economic situation of Afghanistan can also be seen as an underlying reason as to why the attack happened. According to one study, 40% of Afghan youths are unemployed (Mohmand, 2017). Youths are inevitably going to get into mischief in order to make any kind of money, especially in a situation such as Afghanistan. Some of these mischiefs can include “criminal activities such as robbery, illegal drug trade, terrorism etc” (Mohmand, 2017). We can argue that youth unemployment is the reason for the increase of terrorist activities (Mohmand, 2017), hence we can say that the reason why the school attack took place was due to youth unemployment. This can also be linked to the previous point made, which is the psychological factors. With youth unemployment high, it will have an “ample social, behavioural and psychological impact” (Mohmand, 2017) and hence more prone to join terrorist groups and commit terrorist acts.

If the west imposes policies then you’re more prone to go to isis and their attractiveness of resistance. Opposition to western foreign policy so they join isis to express their resistance to these imperialistic tendencies. We they cannot defeat the west through politics they join the Islamic state.

Is this terrorism?

Whilst there is no universally recognised definition of terrorism, from a labeling viewpoint, this act is categorically terrorism. This act was premediated violence used in order to create fear in order to change the political or other ideological landscape, therefore this violent act meets the common themes that most definitions of terrorism adhere to (Martin, 2013, p.37). Furthermore, this act can be classified as dissident terrorism because the Islamic State are a non-state group fighting against the government (Martin, 2013, p. 40).

Legitimacy and achievements:

In order to understand if this was a legitimate attack, we will discuss this through the lens of Just War Theory (JWT). In JWT, war is seen in two perspectives, first with justification for fighting (Jus ad Bellum), second “with reference to the means they adopt (Jus in Bello)” (Walzer, 1978, p.21).

Jus ad Bellum requires a genuine case for violence to be used, for example, violence can be vindicated under self-defence or humanitarian crisis (Beitz, 2009, p.327). The attack on the school does not gratify these two points therefore their attack was not legitimate but, the Islamic State claims their attack was justified on the grounds of religion. However, the Islamic State have been condemned by nearly all Muslim scholars due to their violation of Islamic law (Melbourne). In addition, the Vice President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Abdullah Bayyah, who is also one of the most important sheiks in the world delivered a fatwa against the Islamic State, condemning their actions (McKenna, 2014). In fact, a former Islamic State member argued that they violate the Prophet Mohamed’s teachings (Dearden, 2016), therefore the attack was not legitimate based on religious and JWT grounds.

Jus in Bello means the “set of rules applying to the conduct of combatants during wartime” (Sussman, 2013, p. 429). The values of humanitarian law pertain in war (Green, 1993, p.17) and one rule of this is that during a time of war you cannot harm any non-combatants (Johnson, 1981, p.23) and clearly the Islamic State have violated this rule as they attacked a school who are non-combatants. Overall, under both the JWT and Muslim Scholars the attack on the attack was not legitimate at all.

Counter-terrorism:

Only one counter-terrorism strategy was applied during this attack. This article says that the school had its own guards (Independent, 2018) in order to protect the students but does not discuss anything else. In terms of government response, the article says that the authorities have opened an investigation in order to find out how the perpetrators were able to sneak into the school considering it had its own guards (Independent, 2018). Apart from this, the article does not further discuss the strategies of the government, maybe because the Afghan government do not have the money to combat the Islamic State as they are already using most of their resources against the Taliban.

One counter-terrorism measure the Afghan government has exclusively used against the Islamic State is through military activities. The Afghan government, with the help of the United States, are targeting the Islamic State in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces where the Islamic State operate (The National, 2018). This is further backed by Ban Ki-Moon (2016, p.5) who says that the Afghan forces, with the help of military assets from the international community, have authorised regular operations against ISIL by air and ground, in both the Kunar and Nangarhar provinces. This shows how the international community with the Afghan government, are conducting a military campaign against the Islamic State.

Frustratingly, the are not many counter-terrorism strategies against the Islamic State, apart from military ones, the reason for this is because the Taliban are the main group in Afghanistan and have been for a number of decades. Due to this, the strategies are all aimed against the Taliban and not the Islamic State, and further to this, the Islamic State are a moderately new organisation in Afghanistan and has very little influence. However, we can argue that the reason why the Afghan government is not really focused on the Islamic State is due to the Taliban being a natural obstacle for the Islamic State. The Taliban are almost part of Afghan culture and identity in the eastern and southern parts of Afghanistan therefore it will naturally have the upper hand against the Islamic State. Furthermore, the Taliban are mostly made from Pashtun ethnic group, which is the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. This means that the Taliban draw “its legitimacy not from a universal Islamic creed. But from a narrow ethnic and nationalistic base” (Erickson, 2018). This is backed by Barr and Moreng (2016) who says that the Taliban can draw upon “tribal relationships and ethnic loyalties, an inherent advantage over ISIS”. In addition, the Taliban recognises the needs of the Afghan jihadist unlike the Islamic State (Barr and Moreng, 2016). All the points raised show why the Afghan government has not employed many strategies against the Islamic State because of the Taliban. In fact, one can argue another counter-terrorism strategy of the Afghan government is letting the Taliban fight and destroy the Islamic State. There have been numerous reports of clashes between the two groups with the Taliban nearly always winning the battles (Bickerton, 2018).

• Irony worth noting for the Taliban
• The reasons for why the Afghan government can not counter the Islamic State
• What was done in reaction?
• Were their measures efficient?
• What would you tell the government to do next time.
• Hardening of targets
• Should of there have been more.
• Afghan gov are poor but they don’t have the money.
• The inability of the Afghan gov to counter these groups.
• Can it strengthen itself without foreign help or can it defeat them?
• Why others should think like me, back this up.
• Use different sources.
• Motives, causes, counter-terrorism, achievements, legitimacy just war theory- laws of Islam most Muslim scholars will argue this is not Islamic.

Appropriateness of the media report:

The news media picked was the Independent, which is considered a centrist newspaper with leftist tendencies (YouGov, 2017). This newspaper article was published on the 16th of August which was a day later than when the incident took place. This, therefore, means that there will be a lack of information on the motives and perpetrators which will limit the analytical framework of this article. The lack of an analytical framework with the addition of the Independent being centrist news media, suggests that this article will be impartial. However, there are some very subtle bias for example, this article includes Ashraf Ghani’s (President of Afghanistan) comment on the incident in which he condemned the attack saying that it “martyred and wounded the innocent” (Independent). The words ‘martyred’ and ‘innocent’ are strong emotional words included to instil sympathy for the dead and anger against the Islamic State. Furthermore, the article says that “grieving families have gathered to bury their dead after the atrocity” (Independent, 2018). This is a strongly worded sentence with emotional and sensitive words which show what appeals to the media. Such emotional words such as ‘grieving’ is likely to resonate with the reader (Martin, 2013, p.364) and create bias. Furthermore, the article does not include any background, motivations or context as to why this act was committed, apart from one extremely brief motivation, which makes it seem like this act was done for no reason creating potential bias. However, this article was published a day later therefore we cannot expect it to write about the motivations of why that attack took place. This article is more factual and less analytical which is expected as they wrote it a day after the event happened. However, they could have done more research as to why the Islamic State targeted this specific ethnic group in Afghanistan. Overall, this article is good factually but not that great analytically as it did not analyse the reasons for the attack, bar that one point.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the motivations of the Islamic State for the attack can be argued was primarily religious, however, there were other underlying motivations in play such as the expansion of territory and the purification of Islam. These beliefs are what this essay believes, led to the attack on the Hazaras. Furthermore, based on the definition provided this act was clearly a terrorist one. When analysing this act through other definitions it was clear that this act was categorically a terrorist act. Furthermore, in terms of counter-terrorism measures, it seemed apparent that there were very few, if any, counter-terrorism measures in place against the Islamic State. The most significant, and exclusively used, counter-terrorism measure was through military means. The Afghan government, with the help of the international community, have attacked, bombed and raided the Islamic State. This has significantly impacted the Islamic State but has not completely wiped them off. One can argue the reason for the lack of counter-terrorism measures against the Islamic State is because the Taliban have proven to be a massive obstacle for the Islamic State reducing their influence to only the remote regions of Kunar and Nangahar.

• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/afghanistan-bombing-attack-kills-48-hazara-college-hopefuls-kabul-n900916

1. Motives and Legitimacy: how did perpetrators legitimise their violence, and how do their acts measure up against conventional moral compasses
2. underlying causes (both motives and causes can include various factors which can be analysed through theories on causes and motives covered in the module, including reflections on any relevant biographical data about perpetrators);
3. ‘achievements’ (according to the perpetrators);
4. responses (to the specific event, in any measures taken to minimise repeat occurrences, and indeed whether sufficient realistic measures had been taken to try to prevent that very act);
5. the appropriateness of media reports (especially the chosen report, and why there might be any possible bias);
6. and how such an act should be labelled (what type of terrorism, why, and do any pejorative connotations have problematic implications)

• https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/25074358/ISISTrap.pdf
• https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/islamic-state-suicide-bombing-students-kabul-afghanistan-shia-a8495001.html

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