A quadruple murder in Oklahoma shows how the Chinese underworld has come to dominate the booming illicit trade, fortifying its rise as a global powerhouse with alleged ties to China’s authoritarian regime.
It seemed an unlikely spot for a showdown between Chinese gangsters: a marijuana farm on the prairie in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma.
Sanaullah Ghafari, the 29 year old leader of the Afghan branch of Islamic State, has overseen its transformation into one of the most fearsome branches of the global Islamist network, capable of operations far from its bases in the borderlands of Afghanistan.
Five years ago this month, a U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab militia ousted Islamic State group fighters from a village in eastern Syria, the group’s last sliver of territory.
Since then, the organization that once staked out a self-proclaimed caliphate across Iraq and Syria has metastasized into a more traditional terrorist group — a clandestine network of cells from West Africa to Southeast Asia engaged in guerrilla attacks, bombings and targeted assassinations.
The Afghan Taliban launched attacks across the border into Pakistan on Monday in response to Pakistani military airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan. The Pakistani military, which helped the Afghan Taliban seize control of the country, targeted members of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, which is sheltered and supported by the Afghan Taliban and is a a close ally of Al Qaeda.
The whole point is to leverage this geostrategic project to coerce uncomfortable compromises from Russia in the Ukrainian Conflict while facilitating the US’ “Pivot (back) to Asia”. The first goal might fail, however, but the second likely won’t.
Introduction
The Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, has reinvigorated jihadi groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda, which are reprioritizing the cause of “Palestine” and the fight against the “Jews” and their “Crusader” allies as a key foundation of their messaging campaigns which aims at expanding their global threat landscape.
In April 2023, many foreign observers found themselves startled when senior diplomats from Iran and Saudi Arabia met at a China-brokered summit in Beijing—the first high-level meeting between both inveterate foes in several years. Beijing appeared to demonstrate a new diplomatic prowess—an active willingness to mediate tensions in one of the most geopolitically challenging and conflict-ridden portions of the globe.
Established In: 2015;
Key Members: Hafiz Saeed Khan, Shahab al-Muhajir;
Operational Area: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India;
Size: 1,000 (US estimate); 2,500-4,000 (UN report); 10,000 (Russian estimate);
Involved In: Bomb Attacks, Assasinations, Armed Attacks, Kidnapping;
Established In: 1994;
Established By: Mohammed Omar;
Also Known As: Taleban;
Country Of Origin: Afghanistan;
Latest Developments
China urged Iran to pressure the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to end their attacks against Red Sea commercial shipping, Iranian sources told Reuters in a January 25 report. Beijing also warned that Chinese-Iranian commerce could suffer if Houthi attacks continue, a potentially potent threat since China remains Iran’s largest trading partner. On January 26, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin affirmed that China is “deeply concerned over the recent rapid escalation of tensions in the Red Sea.” He also said that the United Nations Security Council did not “authorize the use of force” against Yemen — an apparent criticism of recent U.S. and allied strikes against the Houthis.