Islamist Terrorism and the current situation in the Middle East

The rise and fall of ISIS in the Levant has been the most significant development with regard to Islamist terrorism in recent years. The terrorist group put Iraq and Syria to fire and sword and orchestrated several attacks in Europe and elsewhere. Despite serious setbacks suffered by ISIS, Islamist terrorism continues to thrive and remains one of today's most significant security threats in the West and the Middle East.

In today's podcast, Lucinda Creighton is joined by Dr Emile Nakhleh, a former CIA Senior Intelligence Service Officer and a Research Professor at the University of New Mexico, to shed light on Islamist terrorism. Nakhleh is an expert on political Islam, radicalisation and terrorism in the Middle East and was a founding Director of the CIA Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program Office. After taking us through his rich career in the US government, Emile Nakhleh provided us with some insights on the origins and current state of Islamist terrorism, the challenges the Islamic world faces in relation to extremism, and the role of the United States in the Middle East.