Cover photo: ISIS militants in Raqqa, Syria    Credit: RFE/RL

Last week EXCAS member Edward Lemon discussed the role that Central Asian fighters have played in international jihadist groups with Radio Free Europe’s Turkmen Service. Also participating in the panel were Jozef Lang, a Central Asian analyst at the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw,  Joanna Paraszczuk, the author of RFE/RL’s new blog which tracks the Islamic State “Under the Black Flag“, and RFE/RL Central Asia specialist Bruce Pannier.

Panelists discussed some of the problems analysts have in estimating the number of Central Asians in Syria, why the Islamic State has proved popular among certain Central Asians and how Russia has become a site for radicalisation. Lemon’s comments were based on research previously published on the EXCAS blog (See: “Profiling Tajik Fighters in Syria“, “Securitising Islam in Moscow“, “Myth or Reality? Tajik Fighters in Syria“)

The discussion can be accessed here.