Analysis: Women becoming growing force inside Islamic State, says expert
February 22, 2019 1 Comment
The role of women inside the Islamic State is growing, as the Sunni militant group is transmuting into an underground organization, according to a Harvard University terrorism expert. Since its meteoric rise in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State has been known for advocating for strict segregation between men and women. In the early stages of the group’s emergence, combat roles were exclusively performed by men, while women’s roles were limited to childbearing and housework. But according to Vera Mironova, Visiting Scholar in the Economics Department at Harvard University, and former Associate of the International Security Program at Harvard’s Belfer Center, the Islamic State’s policy on gender roles is shifting rapidly.
Mironova, who has carried out research in Iraq while embedded with the country’s Special Operations Forces, argues that the Islamic State has been “quietly shifting its insistence of strict gender hierarchy” and is now “allowing, even celebrating, female participation in military roles”. In an article published earlier this week in The New York Times, Mironova states that early indications of this shift were visible as early as 2017. In October of that year, ISIS publications issued calls for “women to prepare for battle”. Within a year, the group was publicly praising its women fighters and even published a video showing veiled Islamic State female fighters firing AK-47 assault rifles. The video praised women fighters for “seeking revenge for [their] religion and for the honor of [their] sisters”.
In her article, the Harvard terrorism expert says that it is not possible to estimate with accuracy the number of women who have picked up arms on behalf of the Islamic State. But she adds that interviews with Iraqi military and police officials suggest that female Islamic State fighters are now “a regular presence that no longer surprises, as it did a few years ago”. There is a tradition of fervent women supporters of the militant group that dates from its very beginning, claims Mironova. She gives the example of female radicals who insisted that their husbands or sons join the Islamic State, or who sought to marry Islamic State combatants in order to be part of “mujahedeen families”. Recently, however, the relative scarcity of male fighters in the ranks of the militant group has led to calls for females to take their place in the front lines. As the Islamic State is transmuting into an underground organization, women are also becoming more useful as covert operatives because they attract less attention by Iraqi or Syrian government troops.
In many cases, women supporters of the Islamic State who lost male family members in the ongoing war pick up arms or put on suicide vests in order to extract revenge. In other cases they do in order to secure protection, favors or money for their families from the insurgents. The fact is, says Mironova, that women fighters are becoming more prominent in the Islamic State’s combat lines and are even participating in the group’s suicide bombing campaign. The latter continues unabated in Iraq and Syria, despite the near-complete loss of the Islamic State’s territorial control, says Mironova.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 22 February 2019 | Permalink
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intelNews.org 
Pakistan’s ex-spy chief stripped of army pension for writing controversial book
February 25, 2019 by Joseph Fitsanakis 1 Comment
The book was edited by the widely respected Indian journalist Aditya Sinha. It contains details about Pakistan’s systematic efforts to foment armed unrest in the heavily Muslim Indian state of Kashmir, for instance by funding and training a host of Islamist paramilitary organizations that operate in the disputed region. The book also claims that the Pakistani government was aware of the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden in 2011, and that it worked closely with the United States to kill the co-founder of al-Qaeda. Islamabad has consistently denied allegations that it knew of bin Laden’s hideout in the city of Abbottabad, and that it gave permission to US Special Forces troops to raid his compound.
Last Friday, Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor announced that a military court had found Durrani guilty of having violated the military code of conduct of the Pakistan Armed Forces. Consequently, he said, the retired general would be stripped of his Army pension and all associated benefits. The military court had conferred behind closed doors, said Ghafoor, adding that he was unable to provide further details on the case. Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court announced on Thursday that it rejected a plea by Durrani’s lawyers to have his name removed from Pakistan’s Exit Control List. The list contains names of individuals who are prohibited from leaving Pakistan for reasons relating to corruption, economic crime, as well as terrorism and drug-related activity, among other violations. Durrani was placed on that list in March of last year, shortly after his controversial book was published in India.
During the same press briefing on Friday, Ghafoor also said that two Pakistani military officers had been placed in custody facing espionage charges. The Pakistan Army spokesman gave no information about the officers’ names or the countries for which they allegedly spied for.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 25 February 2019 | Permalink
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with A.S. Daulat, Asad Durrani, Asif Ghafoor, book news and reviews, India, ISI, News, Pakistan, Pakistan Exit Control List