Al-Qaida’s “A Bailout Plan for Germany”: A NEFA Analysis
By Evan Kohlmann
The NEFA Foundation has released a new report by NEFA Contributor Antje Kraschinski analyzing the Al-Qaida video "A Bailout Plan for Germany." The January 2009 video features German citizen Bekkay Harrach and is the third German-language video issued by Islamic terror groups since October 2008. Displaying a deep and detailed knowledge of the political background of the German military engagement in Afghanistan, Harrach repeats his central message several times: Germany must pull its troops out of Afghanistan. To advance that goal, Harrach appeals to the German people to vote for a party in the upcoming elections that supports the withdrawal. Harrach’s video has alarmed German officials. On January 25, German Interior Ministry State Secretary August Hanning commented: "For the first time we are seeing that Germany is addressed very clearly, and namely from someone who knows our home affairs, who knows the internal conditions here and who grapples very specifically with us here in Germany. We regard this as a new quality of threat." This paper provides extensive context to Harrach's message and offers a snapshot of Harrach's life in Germany and the Pak-Afghan area.
The report can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website.
