Understand terror before fighting it

A fortnight ago, I attended the first ever Global Countering Violent Extremism Communication Expo in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The 'who's who' in the global war against terror with regard to communications for countering violent extremism were present and eager to showcase their best practices and latest technologies to win the war.

To my consternation, a colleague displayed to me on his phone what looked like a breach—the terror group, ISIS had actually hacked into some online platforms used by participants at the Expo.

Not a single terrorist group has been defeated or annihilated since the September 11 attacks in the US. Instead, countless others who are more lethal, brutal and dangerous have emerged. Technically speaking, it is impossible to win the war on terror.

Why? There is no entity called terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic. It is a method used by armed groups—state or non-state actors, with a political agenda or a cause.

One can however stop the use of terror in wars and conflicts. To do so, it is important to first understand what terrorism is, and is not.

The word terrorism comes from the Latin word terrere meaning to frighten or fill with fear.

Resistance movements and insurgents at some point in their struggles used terrorism as one of the tactics to fight for freedom or to terrify populations that did not comply with their demands.

Most African freedom fighters and groups including the African National Congress (ANC), Mau Mau and others were said to have deliberately employed the use of terror.

Governments too, do use terror as a tactic to control populations and their subjects.

Between March 1793 and July 1794, the French Government employed systematic use of terror on its population as a policy.

Four years later, in 1794, the British used systematic terror during the Irish rebellion.

Dynamitism (terrorism) was largely used in 1883 to refer to mass-destruction terrorism. The Germans used Schrecklichkeit (to cause fright) to terrorise non-combatants in Britain.

The apartheid regime in South Africa certainly used terror as a way of breaking the will of the ANC and black South Africans to fight for independence.

Terrorism is therefore, a tactic used by gangs, governments, insurgents, freedom fighters, dictators and psychopaths to achieve certain goals - mostly political. Terrorism cannot be won.

It can only be reduced or its usage stopped as a tactic in wars and conflicts. It is extremely challenging for democracies to quickly address the challenge of terrorism.

Dictatorships however can stop or significantly and quickly reduce the use of terror by terrorising terrorists.

But this can only be a temporary and short-term solution, not a long-term or permanent one.

Democracies are sometimes tempted to use brutal methods employed by dictatorships for quick results. But such results are only temporary, and at a grave and prohibitive cost.

Such actions end up defiling the very democracy that States wish to protect. Defending democracy calls for a long-term population-centric and largely ideological approach coupled with addressing genuine grievances that exist.

Because the currency for terrorism is instilling fear in third parties through brutal actions, winning information asymmetries is a first step in reducing terrorism.

Terrorism happens when ideological motivation meets operational capability. While it can take years — through a process of radicalisation for one to be convinced ideologically to commit acts of terror, it takes an alarmingly short time for one to gain the operational capability to commit acts of terror.

Religion (rather its misuse) is important for groups that use terrorism as a tactic to attain ideological motivation.

The reason why religion is important to these groups is because it is a powerful mobilising tool. Misused, it works as a tool for mass mobilisation and provides motivation, framework and justification for the actions of terrorists.

Expertly employed (as is the case today), misuse of religion for ideological propaganda though mainly online platforms (and sometimes unwittingly through the mainstream media) on the young and restless population ensures that terrorist groups have the advantage of information asymmetries on their side.

Apart from being the greatest intelligence failure in living memory, 'Operation Shock and Awe' that was launched by Americans to depose Saddam Hussein in 2003 only produced more terror.

It gave birth to Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Qaeda in Iraq in turn produced ISIS. Earlier in 2001, 'Operation Enduring Freedom' launched to take out the Taliban in Afghanistan immediately after 9/11, produced mixed results.

Some of these results included toppling of the Mullah Omar regime, which provided sanctuary to Osama bin Laden.