Episode 185 – Afghanistan is still a terrorist state – surprised?
It has been two years since the Taliban retook Afghanistan after twenty years of foreign military and security presence. Some thought that the group had softened its hardline fundamentalist approach, and that this was a sort of ‘Taliban 2.0’. That wishful thinking has quickly been shown to be daft. Afghanistan under these religious zealots is again a terrorist haven. Borealis is joined by Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project to discuss these issues.
About my guest
CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler is a sought-after expert in the structure and financial operations of major terrorist groups, owing to his five years as a member of the ISIL, al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Team of the U.N. Security Council, the last three as its coordinator. Dr. Schindler regularly briefed the members of the Security Council on the global terrorism threat and was responsible for the development of global counter terrorism sanctions. Dr. Schindler has been interviewed many media regarding the ramifications of a Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. Prior to his work with the U.N. Security Council, Dr. Schindler was First Secretary, Political Affairs and Liaison to the Security Forces at the German Embassy in Tehran and from 2001 to 2005, he was part of the federal government of Germany’s team investigating al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia.
Canadian Intelligence Eh
In a world of multiple voices and opinions it can be very hard to know where to turn. One choice is to look to those who actually worked in counter-terrorism in the national security world. In these half-hour podcasts, 30-year Canadian intelligence veteran Phil Gurski is joined by a fascinating array of individuals with something meaningful to say about these issues as they provide insight into what they mean and what we need to do about them.
About Phil Gurski
Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specialising in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation, and as a multilingual analyst at CSE (Communications Security Establishment) from 1983-2001. He is the author of six books on terrorism, including the second edition of The Peaceable Kingdom: A history of terrorism in Canada from Confederation to the present, published by Double Dagger in February 2023.
