logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2023
31m 2s

What's Next for Al Qaeda and The Islamic...

Global Dispatches
About this episode

Peter Bergen is one of the world's foremost experts on global jihadist movements like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. He is a journalist who has covered this beat for decades, including the first television interview with Osama Bin Laden in 1997.  Peter Bergen discusses where Qaeda and the Islamic State stand today, including how the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has impacted these global Jihadist movements. We also discuss why the Western Sahel region of Africa has become the geographical base of so many al Qaeda and Islamic State splinter groups. We discuss those questions and many more in detail, but kick off with a plug of Peter Bergen's new podcast, In the Room. 

In The Room 

Our newsletter: GlobalDispatches.org 

Support our work on Patreon

Up next
Nov 20
Live From Kabul — The World's First Capital Facing Total Water Collapse
<p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Kabul is running out of water. If present trends continue, the capital of Afghanistan could run completely dry by 2030. There are several reasons for this. The first is climate change: there is less snowmelt to feed the city's aquifers. The second is agi ... Show More
24m 7s
Nov 17
A Brilliant New Biography Tells the Story of the Cold War Era UN Secretary General U-Thant
<p data-start="115" data-end="401">U Thant was a Burmese diplomat and the third Secretary-General of the United Nations. He assumed the role following the death of Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash in the Congo in 1961, and soon became one of the most consequential players in int ... Show More
34m 36s
Nov 13
How the UN General Assembly Can Get Its Peace and Security Groove Back
My interview guest today, Axel Marschik, is a veteran Austrian diplomat who has thought extensively about how the General Assembly can play a more robust role in peace and security when the Security Council fails to do so. In a paper that was widely discussed around the UN, Ambas ... Show More
25m 48s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
ISIS's enduring threat in Syria and Iraq
On this week's episode, Director of MEI's Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism Programs Charles Lister speaks with MEI Editor-in-Chief Alistair Taylor on the resurgence of the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Syria and Iraq. This episode is the first in a several-part series lo ... Show More
28m 2s
Sep 2024
ISIS and the detainee dilemma
<p>Shiraz Maher - Co-Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) - and Charles Lister - Director of MEI's Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism Programs - speak to MEI Editor in Chief Alistair Taylor about ISIS and the detainee dilemma. What ... Show More
27m 44s
Sep 2016
Is Islamic State Finished?
So-called Islamic State is on the run. Caught in a pincer movement in Syria and Iraq, the group has lost large swathes of territory over the past year. With its revenues and numbers of fighters also dwindling, the demise of the caliphate appears all but unavoidable. And yet many ... Show More
23m 29s
Feb 2025
Al Shara warns armed groups in Syria and Egypt sees a way forward after Gaza war
Syria's leader Ahmad Al Shara said on Tuesday that the country must unite around a state that has a “monopoly” on weapons. The former capital of the ISIS caliphate in Syria is facing an uncertain future, much like the rest of the country. After over a year of political and econom ... Show More
5m 6s
Jun 2025
Air India crash, US Middle East evacuations, Islamic State and ICE raids
A London-bound Air India plane with more than 200 on board has crashed in Ahmedabad. The U.S. is pulling personnel out of the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran. Middle Eastern leaders and Western allies warn that Islamic State could exploit the fall of the Assad regime t ... Show More
13m 15s
Jan 2025
Why the West Wants to Bring Down the New Syrian State - with Sami Hamdi (Part 2)
In this second session of our 2024 roundup we have Sami Hamdi back on the show to discuss Syria in more detail. Syria is in many ways a ray of hope but also raises all sorts of uncertainties. What path will the revolution take? How do we assess Jolani and the rebel movement? What ... Show More
1h 47m
Sep 2024
Wagner ambushed in the Mali desert
A brutal battle in northern Mali in July left dozens of Wagner fighters presumed dead. The ambush reveals the dangers faced by Russian mercenary forces working for military juntas in Africa. The arid Sahel region is host to separatists and powerful offshoots of Islamic State and ... Show More
23m 24s
Mar 2024
Two stories: Insight on Islamic State Group + Miami stops the party
<p>On this episode, we’re covering two very different stories. </p><p>After the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on a concert hall in Moscow, we’re revisiting a previous episode asking how much of a threat the group still pose. </p><p>Mina al-Lami from BB ... Show More
26m 45s