Brian Glyn Williams

Last updated

Brian Glyn Williams is a professor of Islamic History at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth who worked for the CIA. [1] [2] [3] As an undergraduate, he attended Stetson University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1988. He received his PhD in Middle Eastern and Islamic Central Asian History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999. An expert on history of the Middle East, he has written a number of books on Afghanistan, the War on Terror and General Rashid Dostum. [4] His articles have been published by the Jamestown Foundation. [5] As an expert in the country, he teaches courses on Afghanistan at Umass Dartmouth. [2]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Qaeda</span> Pan-Islamic Sunni Jihadist terrorist organization (established 1988)

Al-Qaeda is a pan-Islamist militant organization led by Sunni Jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic state known as the Caliphate. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include people from other ethnic groups. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian, economic and military targets of the US and its allies; such as the 1998 US embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing and the September 11 attacks. The organization is designated as a terrorist group by NATO, UN Security Council, the European Union, and various countries around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmad Shah Massoud</span> Afghan military leader (1953–2001)

Ahmad Shah Massoud was an Afghan politician and military commander. He was a powerful guerrilla commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989. In the 1990s, he led the government's military wing against rival militias; after the Taliban takeover, he was the leading opposition commander against their regime until his assassination in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Rashid Dostum</span> Afghan Field Marshal, politician (born 1954)

Abdul Rashid Dostum is an Afghan exiled politician, former Marshal in the Afghan National Army, founder and leader of the political party Junbish-e Milli. Dostum was a major army commander in the communist government during the Soviet–Afghan War, and in 2001 was the key indigenous ally to U.S. Special Forces and the CIA during the campaign to topple the Taliban government. He is one of the most powerful warlords since the beginning of the Afghan wars, known for siding with winners during different wars. Dostum has also referred to as a Kingmaker due to his significant role in Afghan politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulbuddin Hekmatyar</span> Afghan politician, mujahid and drug trafficker (born 1949)

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan politician, former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so called after Mohammad Yunus Khalis split from Hezbi Islami in 1979 to found Hezb-i Islami Khalis. He has twice served as Prime Minister during the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayman al-Zawahiri</span> Egyptian militant and 2nd emir of al-Qaeda (1951–2022)

Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri, was an Egyptian-born militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until his death in July 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special Activities Center</span> Unit of the American Central Intelligence Agency

The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015. Within SAC there are two separate groups: SAC/SOG for tactical paramilitary operations and SAC/PAG for covert political action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atta Muhammad Nur</span> Afghan politician

Atta Muhammad Nur is an Afghan exiled politician and former militant who served as the Governor of Balkh Province in Afghanistan from 2004 to January 25, 2018. An ethnic Tajik, he worked to educate the Mujahideen after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, gaining the nickname "The Teacher". He then became a mujahideen resistance commander for the Jamiat-e Islami against the Soviets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Alliance</span> 1996–2001 anti-Taliban military front in Afghanistan

The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, was a military alliance of groups that operated between late 1996 to 2001 after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban) took over Kabul. The United Front was originally assembled by key leaders of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, particularly president Burhanuddin Rabbani and former Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Massoud. Initially, it included mostly Tajiks but by 2000, leaders of other ethnic groups had joined the Northern Alliance. This included Karim Khalili, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Abdullah Abdullah, Mohammad Mohaqiq, Abdul Qadir, Asif Mohseni, Amrullah Saleh and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States invasion of Afghanistan</span> 2001 multinational military operation

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, the United States declared the beginning of the war on terror and subsequently led a multinational invasion of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The stated goal was to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the attacks under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, and to deny Islamist militants a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by toppling the Taliban government. The United Kingdom was a key ally of the United States, offering support for military action from the start of the invasion preparations. The American military presence in Afghanistan greatly bolstered the Northern Alliance, which had been locked in a losing fight with the Taliban during the Afghan Civil War. Prior to the beginning of the United States' war effort, the Taliban had seized around 85% of Afghanistan's territory as well as the capital city of Kabul, effectively confining the Northern Alliance to Badakhshan Province and smaller surrounding areas. The American-led invasion on October 7, 2001, marked the first phase of what would become the 20-year-long War in Afghanistan and was the technical start of the War on Terror.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)</span> 1996–2001 civil war in Afghanistan

The 1996–2001 Afghan Civil War or the Fifth Afghan Civil War took place between the Taliban's conquest of Kabul and their establishing of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 27 September 1996, and the US and UK invasion of Afghanistan on 7 October 2001: a period that was part of the Afghan Civil War that had started in 1989, and also part of the war in Afghanistan that had started in 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Qala-i-Jangi</span> 2001 prisoner uprising in northern Afghanistan

The Battle of Qala-i-Jangi was a six-day military engagement following an uprising of enemy combatants/prisoners-of-war on November 25, 2001. The battle took place between November 25 and December 1, 2001, in northern Afghanistan. It followed the intervention by United States-led coalition forces to overthrow the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which had been harboring al-Qaeda operatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Riedel</span> American academic

Bruce O. Riedel is an American expert on U.S. security, South Asia, and counter-terrorism. He is currently a senior fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, and a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He also serves as a senior adviser at Albright Stonebridge Group.

Between 2004 and 2018, the United States government attacked thousands of targets in northwest Pakistan using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) operated by the United States Air Force under the operational control of the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division. Most of these attacks were on targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan. These strikes began during the administration of United States President George W. Bush, and increased substantially under his successor Barack Obama. Some in the media referred to the attacks as a "drone war". The George W. Bush administration officially denied the extent of its policy; in May 2013, the Obama administration acknowledged for the first time that four US citizens had been killed in the strikes. In December 2013, the National Assembly of Pakistan unanimously approved a resolution against US drone strikes in Pakistan, calling them a violation of "the charter of the United Nations, international laws and humanitarian norms."

Ahmad Salama Mabruk, known as Abu Faraj al-Masri, was a senior leader in the Syrian militant group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and was previously a leader in Jabhat al-Nusra and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad militant groups. He was present alongside Abu Muhammad al-Julani at the announcement of the creation of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. He was one of 14 people subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA before the 2001 declaration of a War on Terror.

The Camp Chapman attack was a suicide attack by Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi against the Central Intelligence Agency facility inside Forward Operating Base Chapman on December 30, 2009. One of the main tasks of the CIA personnel stationed at the base was to provide intelligence supporting drone attacks in Pakistan. Seven American CIA officers and contractors, an officer of Jordan's intelligence service, and an Afghan working for the CIA were killed when al-Balawi detonated a bomb sewn into a vest he was wearing. Six other American CIA officers were wounded. The bombing was the most lethal attack against the CIA in more than 25 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Shakoor al-Turkistani</span>

Abdul Shakoor al-Turkistani, also known as Abdul Shakoor Damla and Emeti Yakuf, was the emir of the East Turkistan Islamic Party, an Islamist organisation that seeks independence for China's Xinjiang province and for it to become an Islamic state. In August 2011, Abdul Shakoor reportedly appeared in a video with his face obscured taking responsibility for the 2011 Kashgar attacks and 2011 Hotan attack.

Since the late 1990s, several members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had decided to leave the band, most of them joining other armed organizations.

The following is an outline of the series of events that led up the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021).

Ustad Ahmad Farooq, born Raja Muhammad Salman was a Pakistani Islamist jihadi who served as the deputy Emir of Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent, as well as Al-Qaeda's chief media person in Pakistan. It is believed he played a vital role in establishing Al-Qaeda in Pakistan after the September 11 attacks.

References

  1. "CV". Brian Glyn Williams.
  2. 1 2 Williams, Brian Glyn (2013-04-25). "Thoughts on the 'Jihadification' of Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev". Huffington Post.
  3. "America's War In Afghanistan, In Photos". RFE/RL. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  4. "The increasing reliance on drones". Potomac Books. Archived from the original on 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2013-04-29.
  5. "Articles by Brian Glyn Williams". Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on 2013-05-30. Retrieved 2013-04-29.