London: Islamism, both as an ideology of radical Islam and the use of violence to achieve such goals, is a “first order security threat” to the world, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday.
In a speech at the London think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US in 2001, the former UK PM and founder of the Institute for Global Change warned that the recent Taliban takeover in Afghanistan is a warning that the threat of radical Islam cannot be left unchecked.
Highlighting that the Taliban are part of the global movement of radical Islam, he pointed out that while the movement contains many different groups, they share the same basic ideology.
Blair called for a need to assess vulnerabilities, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by a deadly virus.
Blair, who was Prime Minister when the UK joined the US-led NATO operation in Afghanistan against the Al Qaeda network in the wake of the September 11 attacks claimed by the Osama bin Laden led group, admitted that nearly everything about 9/11 and its aftermath remains mired in controversy.
We need some boots on the ground’. Naturally our preference is for the boots to be local. But that will not always be possible, he reflected.