Despite Drone Strikes, Western Terror Recruits Increasing in Pakistan, Afghanistan

'German Taliban' Warns Germany Out of Afghanistan

The US military isn’t the only one having a banner year for recruitment, according to officials a growing number of disillusioned people from Western nations are flocking to Pakistan and Afghanistan to attend terror training camps, despite an increasing number of US drone strikes on those camps and dubious claims of the success of those strikes.

One recent video underscoring the trend was from a group calling itself the “German Taliban Mujahideen.” The video showed German speakers who had gone to Pakistan and were urging all Muslims to travel to the region to join their cause.

The video also urged German soldiers serving in Afghanistan to abandon the ongoing war, cautioning that they could either leave by choice or “return individually in coffins from the occupied territories.”

Recruitment seems to be growing across all major Western nations, though exactly why this is the case is unclear as the war continues to be a very dangerous business for all involved, whether on the NATO side or in the insurgency.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.