Director of CAPS Visits United States

From September 2nd till the 5th of 2009, Mr. Hekmat Karzai visited Florida to meet with military officials and also teach a counterterrorism course at the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU).

Mr. Karzai held meetings with several high-ranking officials including Lt General Donny Wurster, Commander of Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlbert Field. Mr. Karzai made a presentation to the leadership of Air Force Special Operations Command titled: Afghanistan: Internal Dynamics and External Relationships where he assessed the current situation of Afghanistan and highlighted the role of the region. Mr. Karzai also provided an update on the election process.

In addition, the Director of CAPS was invited to teach a seminar on the ‘Future Threat of Terrorism’ in a two week course titled, ‘Special Operations Combating Terrorism Course. In his lectures, Mr. Karzai started by focusing on the evolution of terrorism and how it has affected government politics and freedom of action; he also elaborated on the historical context of terrorism as a framework for understanding current trends.

Majority of Mr. Karzai’s lecture tackled the three layers of threats that terrorism pose today. Some of the main points discussed are listed below:

1) Al Qaeda Central: the evolution of Al Qaeda during the Russian Occupation of Afghanistan; Al Qaeda structure before and after 911; Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri’s role in the movement today and the threat they pose to not only Afghanistan and Pakistan but the world.

2) Al Qaeda Affiliated Groups: the various groups that have adopted Al Qaeda tactics and ideology; examples of various groups including Lashkar I Toiba, Jama Islamiya and the Taliban were presented.

3) The New Terrorists: how do these new terrorist emerge and what motivates them were the key point of discussion. Case studies of Omar Shaikh was highlighted in details.

Moving forward, Mr. Karzai stressed that there must be a policy that deals with both strategic and operational aspect of terrorism. ‘Without the strategic aspect, we will not succeed operationally.’