Terrorist Strategy in Countering Counter-Insurgency

Terror struck into the hearts of the enemies is not only a means, it is the end in itself….It is the point where means and the end meet and merge. Terror is not a means of imposing decision upon the enemy; it is the decision we wish to impose upon him.[1]- S.K. Malik, The Quranic Concept of War, 1979Counterinsurgency, or COIN, was first systematically discussed in the seventeenth century, and has been used in asymmetric warfare throughout history. Military thinkers and strategists have long attempted to understand insurgencies and the best way to effectively combat them. Most recently, the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps have codified counterinsurgency doctrine and established a set of principles for confronting the twenty-first century insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Photo: 2007 Afghanistan.  Royal Marines in Afghanistan Storm a Taliban Compound.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/defenceimages/6220131407/Terrorism and COIN Inextricably LinkedWhen discussing…