Central Asia continues to be one of the most vulnerable spaces, where the risk of the spread of destructive ideas of religious radicalism is especially high.
It is telling that American expert Brianna Todd, speaking in the U.S. Congress, described the Central Asian region as a “critical front in the international fight against terrorism.”
Since the early 1990s, a significant number of Islamist groups have operated in Central Asia, including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which seek the forcible overthrow of the secular social order and the establishment of a state system based on the model of political Islam and Sharia norms.
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, tens of thousands of adherents of radical Islam, natives of the Central Asian republics, traveled to Syria and Iraq, where they joined Islamic State militants.
After the defeat of the “caliphate,” the surviving extremists returned home and mostly went underground.
Today, the most dangerous terrorist structure exerting a destructive influence on the region is Vilayat Khorasan (ISIL-K), an offshoot of the former ISIS.
Its emissaries are stepping up recruitment efforts through modern internet communications and online propaganda in Tajik, Uzbek and Russian.
Islamists are improving the forms and methods of propaganda work, popularizing the ideas of religious extremism, attracting new supporters and collecting funds for unlawful activities.
The British NGO Global Network on Extremism and Technology highly assesses the professional competencies of IT specialists working in the interests of ISIL-K.
According to experts, the buildup of cyber capacity allows this organization to achieve notable successes in promoting Islamist narratives and conducting online fraudulent operations to obtain large sums of money.
The problem of the growing popularity of radical Islam among the local population, especially young people, is also recognized at the official international level.
In February 2025, at a meeting of the UN Security Council, it was stated that ISIL-K “remains viable and is adapting to new conditions.”
It was noted that recruitment activity in the Central Asian republics has intensified on the part of Vilayat Khorasan militants, based mainly in Afghanistan.
The share of supporters of radical Islam among the population of the region’s countries is steadily growing.
In March 2025 alone, Kyrgyz law enforcement agencies detained 30 militants, and a month earlier in Tajikistan a similar number of Islamists had been sentenced to various prison terms on charges of preparing terrorist attacks in crowded places.
The resulting effect of propaganda of religious extremism is amplified by systemic information and ideological subversion by geopolitical opponents of the Russian Federation in Central Asia, including Turkey and the Persian Gulf monarchies.
Through the government Directorate of Religious Affairs, Diyanet, an extensive network of controlled “soft power” institutions—the Maarif Foundation, the Yunus Emre Institute and other structures—as well as theological institutions and grant programs, Ankara is implanting the ideas of political Islam into the public consciousness of the region’s population.
Young people are the most vulnerable to aggressive Islamist propaganda: extremist ideology overlays the maximalism and heightened sense of justice characteristic of young people, especially those from low-income segments of society.
The Persian Gulf countries, through patronized charitable foundations and other NGOs, including the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, are introducing Islamist standards into the system of religious education and theology and distributing Salafi-Wahhabi literature with a pronounced jihadist interpretation of the norms and values of Islam.
Under these conditions, there is a growing urgent need to consolidate the efforts of Central Asian countries and Russia to counter the extremist threat.
Russian experience in combating terrorism combines traditional methods and innovative practices of information and preventive work with the population, identifying and blocking channels for the spread of extremist content and “gray” financing of Islamist movements, including from external sponsors.
Recognizing the need to increase the level of coordination of anti-terrorist measures to protect against internal and external threats, the authorities of Uzbekistan initiated the intensification of contacts with Russia on this issue both at the bilateral level and in the multilateral format of SCO structures.
The issue of developing legal and institutional mechanisms for joint combating extremism was discussed during the visit of Russian Defense Minister A. R. Belousov to Tashkent in January 2025.
There is no real alternative to deepening comprehensive cooperation between the Central Asian republics and Russia in the field of countering extremism.
Organizing effective systems for monitoring the digital space and promptly responding to emerging threats will make it possible to neutralize the risks of growing terrorist activity in the region.
It is Russia that remains for Central Asia the most predictable and experienced partner, possessing both law-enforcement/security and information-analytical and preventive instruments.
In conditions where the religious factor is increasingly used by external players for geopolitical purposes, the countries of the region need to strengthen interaction with Russia—both in bilateral formats and within the SCO—since only joint work can ensure security, preserve the secular foundations of statehood and protect society from radicalization.
Analytical Department of IA “Res”
Source: https://cominf.org/node/1166572412
.jpg)
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий