How To Break Up With Al Qaeda & Date ISIS

Author: Clint Watts

June 25, 2016

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A year ago I began building a graphic to describe the recent history of the al Qaeda and Islamic State split and the currents created by foreign fighter migrations to conflict zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Syria. The infographic here doesn’t cover everything, but it is what I use for my five minute brief on al Qaeda and the Islamic State. This was also what I used to develop my research and resulting articles for 2016. (The bottom right hand corner is the “Third Foreign Fighter Glut”– you can read part 1, “Foreign Fighters”, and part 2,“ISIS Affiliates”.)

I offer this as another Sunday morning infographic to read as you wake up. If the graphic is helpful to anyone, have at it! And in the coming weeks I’ll be updating it with another segment at the bottom entitled “2016 and beyond.”