A pattern I’ve seen in countries dealing with terrorism is that they try and kill or arrest all members of a terrorist organization. I’m trying to find an example where terrorist cells were destroyed by military force and I can’t find any- it seems the most successful endings are through diplomacy and humanitarian relief to the communities that are vulnerable to radicalization.

  • merde alors@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    6·
    10 months ago

    terrorism is a politically defined term, it’s definition and target changes over time and places.

    what one calls a terrorist, another calls a hero.

    what one country calls a “special operation”, is terror to another.

    what one country calls a terrorist organization, another country calls “allied ethnic groups” &c et cetera :/

    your question is not as simple as it sounds

    • meep_launcher@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I suppose a better phrased question might be “what examples are there of a major military power winning an asymmetric war against ideologically or practically motivated non-state actors”

      Essentially let’s see “freedom fighters” and “terrorists” as the same thing for this question.

      • merde alors@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        define “winning”!

        keeping a relatively harmless tension with a weakened organization may be what a state may consider a “win”.

        why would ‘current rulers’ efface their source of propaganda for the next twenty elections?

        p.s. : would you consider the recent resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict an appropriate response to your question?

        • meep_launcher@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          Actually you pinged on a good point - really it could come down to what the “counter terror” side defines as victory. One example that comes to me is the US in Afghanistan- we really didn’t have a solid definition for victory other than a vague “destroy al-Qaeda” so we ended up there for 20 years and every bomb we dropped just radicalized more people.

          For transparency, I wrote this question thinking about the Palestine Israel conflict. Israel’s stated objective is to completely destroy Hamas, but that feels oddly familiar

          As far as the Nagorno-Karabakh, I’m not familiar with that conflict, but I did a little peak and the news is saying it’s back up. :/