Career Foreign Fighters: Expertise Transmission Across Insurgencies

Abstract

where she worked on violent extremist groups' use of online platforms, propaganda, and youth involvement in extremist organizations. She holds an MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a BA and honorary MA in Oriental Studies from Cambridge University, UK. Her research interests include Islamic movements, terrorism, terror groups' use of the Internet, encrypted platforms, foreign fighters, and radicalization.

Choosing Where to Fight: Do Social Networks Distinguish American ISIS Foreign Fighters from ISIS-Inspired Terrorists?

“…Finally, networks built on close personal relationships are more likely to provide their members with the resources and operational security necessary for becoming a foreign fighter. For instance, Daymon, de Roy van Zuijdew, and Malet (2020) found that fighters who joined ISIS often had assistance from family members, friends, and other trusted partners. These relationships, which often existed offline, helped aspiring fighters avoid detection and gave them access to the resources necessary to obtain passports, purchase airline tickets, and mobilize abroad.…”

Disengagement, Deradicalisation, and Rehabilitation

“…The experience of conflict zones such as Iraq is that terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) detained for long periods of time, use that time in prison to educate themselves and others, consolidate social bonds and prepare for a return to terrorism post-release (Daymon & Malet, 2020). The Iraq case represents an extreme case, but it does point to the nature of the challenges.…”

“…It was primarily from the Breaking the Walls campaign that ISIS replenished its ranks, and strengthened its leadership, reaping a more tight-knit and disciplined core of leaders and senior militants. Today in both Iraq and Syria, there are signs that the cycle is repeating itself with the Islamic State insurgency (Barrett, 2017;Cordesman, 2020;Daymon et al, 2020;IPAC, 2019). In Afghanistan, a similar dynamic has been occurring for many years but has been more recently accelerated by peace negotiations with the Taliban which despite claims to the contrary continues to work closely with al-Qaeda (and in some cases with IS) even while securing the uncontested release of thousands of imprisoned Taliban militants.…”