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Home > Open Access Journals > JSS > Vol. 17 > No. 3 (2024)

 

Author Biography

Kaneshka Nawabi is a British-Afghan researcher with over two decades of experience in public security sector reform and humanitarian aid. Kaneshka's career as an aid worker started in the 1990s in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He later joined the Afghan government and served as the Senior Advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Interior (2007-2010) and the Afghan National Security Council (2016-2018). Kaneshka has an MBA, and MA degree in International Relations from SOAS, University of London, and PhD from the University of South Wales, UK.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.17.3.2273

Subject Area Keywords

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Radicalization, Religious violence, Taliban, Terrorism / counterterrorism

Abstract

In August 2021, an insurgency spearheaded by violent suicide campaigns saw the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan. A claimed four thousand suicide bombers remain a strategic asset at the hands of the Taliban and other extremist groups with extensive technical and logistical capabilities and a strong deterrence against their rivals. Despite this emanating threat, the majority of suicide terrorism research continues to rely on data from the Middle East, where social status, financial gains, and collective honour are cited as key factors. Using a multilevel framework and analysis, this article is based on field interviews with victims, proponents, and various stakeholders related to suicide terrorism. Findings suggest that suicide bombers in Afghanistan are usually young, poor, semi-literate Pashtun males with refugee backgrounds where they receive informal religious education in madaris. The culture and ideology of these religious institutions significantly encourage acts of violence, including suicide attacks. While foreign occupation and civilian casualties fuel the insurgency, poverty, lack of education, and the war economy are the main drivers of insurgency, not direct causes of suicide terrorism in Afghanistan.

Disclaimer

Dear Editors at the Journal of Strategic Security,

I would like to confirm that my article, 'Suicide Bombing in Afghanistan: A Multilevel Analysis', has not been published or submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. Meanwhile, there is no funding or grants received for writing this article. The author, therefore, declares no conflicts of interest.

Sincerely,

Kaneshka Nawabi, PhD

Centre for Criminology

University of South Wales

United Kingdom

Acknowledgements

Declaration of interests: The author of this article declares that he has neither received any financial compensations nor any known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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