ABSTRACT

Violent armed groups in South and South East Asia have remained in business, either through opportunistic alliances with Islamic State (IS) or on their own, taking advantage of the gaps in state responses. IS has made a concerted effort to promote its brand in South East Asia by building on the legacy of Jemaah Islamiyah. In South Asia, IS has been able to establish control in several provincial districts in eastern Afghanistan and has taken root in Pakistan. South and Southeast Asia provide a laboratory of sorts in addressing violent extremist challenges. South and South East Asia remain sites of various forms of extremism and violence by nonstate actors. In Indonesia, the IS affiliates include Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, a network of several small radical factions that coalesced and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. The chapter identifies a number of emerging trends with regard to terrorism, insurgency, and violent extremism in South and Southeast Asia.