The government of Tajikistan says it has captured a member of al Qaeda, a citizen of Uzbekistan, which RFE/RL says is Central Asia's first "homegrown al Qaeda member":
Islam Niyozmatov, an Uzbek citizen and a suspected member of Al-Qaeda, has been arrested in neighboring Tajikistan, according to a spokesman for the Tajik Interior Ministry.
"Niyozmatov was trained in Al-Qaeda terrorist camps in Pakistan in 2005-06, and he has taken part in several terrorist operations plotted by this organization," ministry spokesman Mahmadullo Asadulloev told RFE/RL.
He added that officials have convincing evidence to believe Niyozmatov is indeed an Al-Qaeda member.
Is this really Central Asia's first al Qaeda member? That would be pretty remarkable, given that there are already documented America, British, Canadian and German members.
RFE/RL's analysis of what this means seems pretty solid:
Expert opinion is divided over the arrest. Some security analysts suggest officials could be exaggerating the suspect's affiliation to Al-Qaeda to attract Western attention and aid.
Others, however, say that Al-Qaeda's recruitment of Central Asian youth has always been a question of "when." They say the most vulnerable to recruitment are people who struggle to find their place in society as a result of the lack of opportunity, poverty, and rampant corruption in the region.
Still, expect Niyozmatov to pop up as a data point in every future scaremongering journalistic/government/think tank report about the looming al Qaeda threat in Central Asia...
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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