Page 335

REVISTA IEEE 9

http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee 337 Antonio Alonso Marcos Central Asians fighting in Syria: the danger of... rist screening watch-list and possesses biometric screening capabilities at ports of entry.”76 In this way, IS is persecuted by all the instruments of the rule of law – police, judges, armed forces – although with limited success. Surprisingly, Kyrgyzstan requested help from the EU to stop the advance of IS, just like Turkmenistan did with Russia and Uzbekistan77. The fight against terrorism is also carried out by cutting off their sources of financing, following recommendations by the UN after the 9/11 attacks. The five Central Asian countries belong to the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (EAG), a Financial Action Task Force-style regional body78. Despite the fact that terrorist groups take advantage of “loopholes” in state legislation to obtain new sources of financing, the reality is that these measures are delivering good results: “… the campaign in Afghanistan, by focusing on the Taliban and Al- Qaeda, is believed to have disabled some of the IMU’s major financial sources. It might also have restricted the IMU’s opportunities to participate in drugs and arms smuggling”79. Religious authorities are also a key player in this situation. They should unreservedly condemn the actions of groups like IS and make it very clear if these groups are manipulating Islam as they see fit, if they are using and abusing the name of the religion of millions of people across the world and monopolising concepts such as “caliphate” and “Islamic state”. For example, the Ulema Council of the Islamic Centre of Tajikistan warned Tajiks not to join IS. Sayfullo Safarov, deputy director of the Tajik Strategic Research Centre, stated: “People involved in terrorism and extremism in the name of Islam have nothing in common with us”80. In addition to this, the Ulema Council also published a fatwa stating that Tajiks who join extremist organisations and fight in foreign wars are committing a grave sin against Islam81. In Kyrgyzstan, 76  See “Country Reports on Terrorism 2013”, US Department of State, 2014. 77  PARASZCZUK, J.: “Kyrgyzstan Wants EU Military Help to Guard against IS Threat”, RFE/ RL, 24 March 2015, under www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyzstan-islamist-extremism-isis-threat-military-aid/ 26918614.html, consulted 3 May 2015. See also BARAN, Z.; STARR, S. F. y CORNELL, S. E. “Islamic Radicalism in Central Asia and the Caucasus: Implications for the EU”, Silk Road Paper, 2006, under http://www.silkroadstudies.org/resources/pdf/SilkRoadPapers/2006_07_SRP_ BaranStarrCornell_Radicalism.pdf, consulted 30 April 2015. 78  See “Country Reports on Terrorism 2013…” op. cit. 79  UNODC Global Programme against Money Laundering GPML. (2002): “Money Laundering and Related Issues in Uzbekistan”, Central Asia Briefing, under https://www.imolin.org/pdf/imolin/ Uzbekpro.pdf, p. 1. 80  See BAHROM, N.: “Tajikistan: Fatwa Denounces ‘Jihadism’ Abroad”, Eurasia Review, 7 October 2014, under www.eurasiareview.com/07102014-tajikistan-fatwa-denounces-jihadism-abroad, consulted 3 May 2015. Traducción del autor. 81  Ibídem.

REVISTA IEEE 9
To see the actual publication please follow the link above