Washington, October 19: Taliban and al-Qaida seem to have quietly expanded their recruiting base from South and Central Asia to European nations like Germany, UK and France and even to the US, with many of the new recruits travelling to Pakistan and Afghanistan for terror training.
The Washington Post in a major article on Monday said the new target countries are now struggling to stop their nationals from being recruited by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and have not been able to much headway.
Since January, at least 30 Germans have travelled to Pakistan for terror training, the daily said quoting German intelligence sources.
In an indication of the dangerous trend, a group called German Taliban has also surfaced in Germany, the paper said.
“Last week, German officials disclosed that a 10-member cell from Hamburg had left for Pakistan earlier this year. The cell is allegedly led by a German of Syrian descent but also includes ethnic Turks, German converts to Islam and one member with Afghan roots,” it said.
Other European countries are also struggling to keep their citizens from going to Pakistan for paramilitary training, it said, adding in August Pakistani officials had arrested 12 foreigners headed to North Waziristan, including four Swedes.
—Agencies