Wheeew! You just read a good deal of information for your first week of class! So, after reading up on the various terms and definitions and reviewing the various terror organizations world-wide”¦I have an important question: Why isn’t the Taliban listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)?
The Irish Republican Army has been identified as terror organization in the past”¦they were fighting against British rule/occupation of Northern Ireland. If you look at the Taliban, they were focused on fighting (during separate periods in time) the Russians and then the United States when Afghanistan was occupied by each country’s respective military. I want you to look at some of the behavior that the IRA was known for and what the Taliban is also known for. The Taliban is still known to participate in bombings, shootings, assassinations and so forth. Reflect back on what you read in the PowerPoint and how we characterize a group or person to be associated with the terror ideology.

Link to the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Terrorist Organization List:
https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm