Taliban and ISIS -- The difference

RECENTLY, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the Taliban was an "armed insurgency" rather than a terrorist group.  The press secretary realised that given the record of the Taliban, especially Pakistani-based Taliban, which committed the heinous attack on the elementary school in Peshawar and carried out another attack on an Ahmadaya mosque in Karachi, it was a grave mistake. He reportedly stated later that the Treasury Department had put the Taliban on a terror list back in 2002.

According to analysts, there are five critical differences between al-Qaeda and the new threat of ISIS.

First, ISIS is fighting more like a conventional army than al-Qaeda ever did. It has seized a large territory in northern Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate there. ISIS is also employing more conventional military tactics, using assault rifles and grenades. Al-Qaeda has not sought to hold on to territory as much as it has been focused on carrying out spectacular attacks that would grab attention of international media.

Second, ISIS is even more brutal than al-Qaeda. It has used extreme violence and brutality to attract attention and more followers and, so far, experts say it is working. "They attract disaffected young people that want to kill other people," said Clint Watts, senior fellow at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. ISIS has gained international attention by beheading prisoners and enemies, and then posting pictures of the violence on social media. It even burned alive a Jordanian pilot, who was a Sunni Muslim.

Al-Qaeda, in contrast, has shunned that practice because it risks turning off less extreme Sunnis and other Muslims from sympathising with their cause.

Third, ISIS is more popular with young people. It now has more followers than al-Qaeda because of the recruitment boom in Syria. ISIS has also attracted followers because it aims for an Islamic state, and has territory to show for it. It has also gained popularity with the young by embracing social media, while al-Qaeda is stuck to more traditional recruiting methods. ISIS has really grown in popularity because it wants an Islamic State.

Finland, Ireland and Australia reportedly have the highest number of foreign fighters per capita, although Finnish security officials say some Finns in their count went for humanitarian reasons. Intelligence officials say there are more than 30,000 ISIS followers, while experts believe al-Qaeda's formal membership is much smaller. Al-Qaeda has also suffered heavy losses from defection or destruction.

Fourth, Al-Qaeda has attacked the US. ISIS has not, though it has made it clear that it wants to do so. For that reason, al-Qaeda is still considered the recognised leader of the global jihadist movement. Since the 9/11 attack, al-Qaeda has carried out plots against the US several times over the last five years, and the group has the capability to do more.

Finally, ISIS is the richer organisation and its funding comes from a variety of sources. Computer disks taken from an ISIS courier by Iraqi forces before the fall of the northern city of Mosul reportedly revealed that ISIS -- before the city's capture -- had cash and assets worth $875 million (£516 million). After the fall of Mosul, ISIS looted the banks and captured military supplies that have boosted the group's coffers to about $2 billion, according to Iraqi officials.

The oil comes from wells and refineries that ISIS has taken over inside northern Iraq and northern Syria, and until very recently it was reportedly easy to smuggle it into other countries at a very cheap price. One reason is that cheap, smuggled oil is a much-prized commodity where oil is so expensive that it almost doesn't matter who is selling it.

Besides revenue from oil smuggling, the group receives money through donations from wealthy sympathisers in many Arab countries.

ISIS demands money from people wherever it has established control. Villagers in ISIS territory are reportedly charged, and pay for just about everything. Another funding source is ransom for freeing hostages.

"ISIS now presents itself as an ideologically superior alternative to al-Qaeda within the jihadi community," says Charles Lister, of the Brookings Doha Center. "As such, it has increasingly become a transnational movement with immediate objectives far beyond Iraq and Syria."

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warned that ISIS was extending its influence into Afghanistan, according to AFP.  If the news is correct, then it may gradually attempt to influence the South Asian countries.

The writer is former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.