Today's Edition
By: RAHAF ABDULHADI ALKHAZRAJI*
The terrorist attack on a concert at Crocus City Hall near Moscow, which resulted in 143 deaths and more than 150 injuries, has highlighted the gaps between Russia and the West on multiple issues, including counterterrorism. While Moscow links the attack to nationalists in Ukraine and their Western allies, the West sought to confirm Daesh Khorasan’s responsibility for the attack, following the organisation’s claim, just a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin won a new presidential term. This has opened the door to speculations about the West’s relationship with the bloodiest attack in Russia in 20 years.
Russian investigations concluded that the four attackers were from Tajikistan and had received large sums of money and cryptocurrencies from Ukraine. They were arrested in Bryansk, Russia, while attempting to flee to Ukraine. However, the United States and Western countries refuse to link the attack to Kyiv, citing prior warnings to Russian security agencies about an extremist attack. However, Moscow is suspicious about the haste with which the United States and Western countries are trying to deflect accusations away from Ukraine.
The Moscow attack serves as a reminder of the international community’s flawed approach to combating terrorism, which often involves international polarisation instead of cooperation on a global strategy. This strategy should focus on intelligence sharing, tracking financing sources, developing security and early warning systems to reduce the frequency of attacks, international cooperation in providing technical and financial assistance, sharing experiences and expertise, addressing the root causes of terrorism, and promoting dialogue between cultures and religions while spreading a culture of tolerance.
The aftermath of the Moscow attack has highlighted difficulties in coordination between countries and conflicting interests. Each party blames the other, while militias and terrorist groups exploit these gaps to carry out their plans, creating new challenges for countries. With the Western-Russian conflict at its peak, there is now greater opportunity in a combat environment for such attacks, as both sides are preoccupied with blaming each other, rather than expanding cooperation to prevent the attacks and limit the presence of terrorist militias.
International polarisation poses a significant challenge in counterterrorism efforts, with deep divisions and limited cooperation in information sharing and coordinating joint efforts. Each country seeks to enhance its influence at the expense of others, leading to discrepancies in threat assessments and identifying terrorist groups. This may result in contradictions in international efforts, further recruitment for terrorist groups, the evolution of their tactics, and ultimately, an increase in the risk of terrorist attacks threatening international security and stability.
Taking a closer look at recruitment, organisations are still able to recruit more individuals by exploiting the Internet, social media, and messaging applications like Telegram. This application appears to have been used as a communication and coordination tool in the Moscow attack, as terrorist groups use it for media, coordination, communication, and recruitment. Therefore, we should not overlook these applications in counterterrorism strategies. It is also important to consider recruitment methods and countries that are more vulnerable to recruitment by extremist groups, such as Afghanistan and some Central Asian countries in the case of Daesh Khorasan.
It is imperative to strengthen dialogue between countries in the fight against terrorism, focusing on common interests and cooperation in developing a comprehensive international strategy to combat terrorism. This strategy should include specific goals and effective implementation mechanisms to track sources of funding, prevent the spread of extremist ideas online, clamp down on every point harbouring extremists and terrorists, and reduce the ability of terrorist groups to plan cyberattacks on infrastructure. However, countering ideological extremism requires more than just armed confrontation; it also involves promoting the values of dialogue, tolerance, and moderation in our societies. Combating terrorism is a global responsibility that requires international cooperation to address evolving challenges and ensure the security and peace of the world.
*The writer is a researcher at TRENDS Research & Advisory
