WASHINGTON, September 11 (RIA Novosti), Lyudmila Chernova - Terror attacks worldwide have grown rapidly in the post-9/11 period, turning the world into an unsafe place, Adam Dolnik, professor of Terrorism Studies at the University of Wollongong, Australia, told RIA Novosti Thursday.
"Many parts of the world are in a very dramatic situation completely unrelated to 9/11 (i.e. south Sudan, DRC), others in a very problematic situation in relation to events related to the ‘War on Terror’ which began as a result of 9/11 (Nigeria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Iraq etc). The world is not a safer place by any means, the number of terrorist attacks and casualties from those attacks has climbed up dramatically in the post- 9-11 period," Dolnik said.
"The absolute majority of these victims are Muslims," the expert added.
The professor also noted that while attacks in the West have been very rare, the actual number of casualties of terrorist violence has increased exponentially.
Dolnik emphasized that although many of the measures taken by the US government following the 9/11 tragedy have helped prevent attacks, there is another side to it.
"If we realize that the strategy of terrorism relies primarily on the ability to provoke states into overreaction, than the 9/11 decade must be judged as a success from the perspective of al-Qaeda," he said.
He explained that while on 9/11 al-Qaeda had a home in Afghanistan and a small presence in several other countries, today, al-Qaeda linked or inspired groups operate freely in a dozen countries around the world, holding territory and operating with impunity.
Dolnik noted that al-Qaeda is not even the most dominant group anymore, referring to Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a Sunni jihadist group which controls vast swathes of land in Syria and northern Iraq.
"ISIS, which is more ambitious, more brutal and more capable, has taken the lead," the professor said.
"I find it difficult to see how anyone is better off today than on 9/11," Dolnik concluded.
On September 11, 2001, the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda launched a series of coordinated terrorist attacks upon the United States. Terrorists hijacked four passenger planes; two of them were crashed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon, while a fourth airliner was targeted at Washington, D.C. but crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. In total, almost 3,000 people died in the attacks. The United States responded to the 9/11 attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had harbored al-Qaeda.
