Terrorism On The US Soil And How The Nation Is Fighting It Out

A few terror suspects were already on the radar of the FBI from which it could be inferred that the US was not beyond the reach of Islamic radicals, particularly at a time when cyber channels and social media were being freely used for indoctrination of vulnerable citizens

The terror attack carried out by an ISIS convert -- Shamsuddin Jabbar -- at New Orleans's famed Bourbon Street on New Year's Day, has drawn attention to the reality that Islamic radical forces were down but not out and were present across the world as 'sleeper cells' and 'lone wolves' determined to execute their plans -- primarily against the US-led West and their allies.

Terrorism by definition is a resort to 'covert' violence for a perceived political 'cause', calling for a degree of 'commitment' that was determined by 'motivation'.

Since the faith-based motivation behind the call of Jehad could be very strong indeed, it is not surprising that a 'radicalised' mind could even take on a 'suicide mission' like what Shamsuddin did.

He is said to be a lone wolf according to the evidence surfacing so far.

Born in Texas -- Shamsuddin had rented an accommodation in New Orleans to plan the attack.

Given the seriousness of the incident, US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited New Orleans to meet the families of the victims.

In the background of this case of terrorism on US soil, three serious developments would add to the geopolitical concerns of President-elect Donald Trump.

First, it is reported that in recent months a few terror suspects were already on the radar of the FBI from which it could be inferred that the US was not beyond the reach of Islamic radicals, particularly at a time when cyber channels and social media were being freely used for indoctrination of vulnerable citizens.

The challenge for American security agencies had suddenly enlarged as they have the responsibility of unearthing all such channels and neutralising them -- this in fact is the case with the security setup of all democratic countries as well.

The second notable feature of this case is that the perpetrator of terror was an Army veteran who had served in Afghanistan for a spell, remained in active service till 2015 and reportedly put in his papers in 2020 as Staff Sergeant.

His case showed that 'radicalisation' can influence even educated and reasonably well-employed persons and not only the poor and the frustrated youth -- Jabbar though was said to be in financial trouble after his first divorce.

In one of the videos made before the incident, he talked of the 'war between the believers and non-believers' and acknowledged his allegiance to ISIS.

A leaflet of ISIS was said to have been recovered from the back of his truck.

It may be mentioned that the 'war on terror' led by the US following 9/11, was essentially an American combat against Islamic radicals headed by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and its competitor, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the second theatre of the said 'war'.

In Afghanistan despite the 'war on terror', the US was compelled to withdraw its troops from there after getting into an agreement with the Taliban backed by Al Qaeda and witnessing the reinstallation of the Kabul Emirate headed by Taliban, in 2021.

That Pakistan had cleverly played a mediatory role at Doha and helped the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan intending to acquire 'strategic depth' against India, is another story.

Shamsuddin Jabbar must have watched with possible admiration how Islamic radicals had stood their grounds against the might of the 'US-led world coalition'.

This draws attention to the third aspect of the New Orleans episode which is that the terrorist in this case became an admirer of ISIS rather than Al Qaeda because it is ISIS that had become the face of Islamic radical forces -- after Osama bin Laden and his successor in Al Qaeda, Ayaman Al Zawahiri, had been eliminated by the US in special military operations.

The attack at New Orleans fully conformed to the modus operandi of terrorists.

The attacker used a rented pickup truck to run over the crowds on pavements celebrating New Year's Day and opened indiscriminate fire killing a total of 14 innocent people and injuring 35 others.

He had loaded the truck at his home place in Texas with automatic arms, explosives and IEDs and reportedly planted two of the IEDs at important junctions in New Orleans city hiding them in coolers.

He had the detonators with him which he could not use before he died in the encounter with the Police. Shamsuddin shared the hatred radical forces like Al Qaeda and ISIS had for the US -- today's Islamic radicals carry the historical legacy of the Wahhabi Jehad that the leading Ulema of the times had called for in the 19th century, against the Western encroachment on Muslim lands.

Significantly, ISIS felt offended by the Russian support to Bashar Al Assad and its regional face -- ISIS-K --carried out a terror attack on a concert hall in Moscow in March last using grenades and automatic rifles as a result of which 130 persons were killed and hundreds of others injured.

The Moscow attack was also possibly meant to administer a warning to Russia -- after the happenings in Chechnya -- not to come in the way of the spread of 'radicalisation' in Central Asia.

It has to be seen how the Trump Presidency would look at Pakistan, a country that remained under the sway of an army with a highly ambiguous approach to Islamic radical forces. International cooperation must be strengthened against the threats of terrorism, narcotics trade and human trafficking and hopefully, India and the Trump administration will find themselves on the same side of the fence in handling these global issues.