About Central Asia: The Rise of Islamic Terrorism
Central Asia: The Call of ISIS | Investigate Asia According to Russian news reports, the suspects in the Moscow concert hall attack were from Tajikistan. Islamic State has launched a major recruitment aimed at militants from Tajikistan and other central Asian countries. Why are so many young people there turning to ISIS? Colonel Gulmurod Kalimov, head of Tajikistan’s elite Special Forces and close to the president’s family, was a man at the heart of the establishment. Trained in counter-terrorism by both the Russians and the Americans, he led the fight against Islamic extremists in Tajikistan. But in April 2015 he disappeared – only to reappear a few weeks later in an ISIS recruitment video calling on all Muslims in the former Soviet Union to come and join him. In the video, he criticised the corruption and incompetence of Tajikistan’s leaders and promised to ‘bring slaughter’ to his former homeland. Kalimov was the most prominent of the more than 2,000 Tajiks reported to have joined ISIS and his defection was unprecedented. His incredible story lifts the lid on Central Asia, a
Central Asia: The Rise of Islamic Terrorism is presented by Investigate Asia. Its listed runtime is 54 minutes. The source link and publisher attribution are provided with the embedded film.
As a society documentary, Central Asia: The Rise of Islamic Terrorism uses central, islamic, terrorism as its central frame. Social documentaries work best as invitations to examine systems through lived experience. Distinguish individual testimony from wider claims, and consider which institutions, incentives and inequalities shape the choices shown.
What to consider before watching
- What evidence, testimony or observation does the film use to explain central, islamic, terrorism?
- Which people, institutions or historical conditions most influence the story told in Central Asia: The Rise of Islamic Terrorism?
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Topics covered in this documentary
Documentary details and original source
- Title
- Central Asia: The Rise of Islamic Terrorism
- Category
- Society
- Runtime
- 54 minutes
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Investigate Asia
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