ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief overview of Albania at the beginning of the post-communist period. It describes the relationships and cooperation between al-Qaeda, other international terrorist organizations, Islamic non-governmental organizations (NGO), and Islamic legal businesses in Albania, and how the Albania government has responded to this activity. Originally, Albania lacked a counterterrorism strategy or even the organizational structures for countering terrorism. Albania provides a useful case study of the ways in which the ideology of radical Islam is spread by Islamic NGOs, and how weak states have become fertile recruiting grounds and safe havens for Islamic militants. The Kuwait Joint Relief Committee for Charity (KJRC), which has its headquarters in Kuwait, includes some humanitarian associations such as the International Islamic Charitable Organization and House of Zekat. The El Hagri institute in Elbasan, Albania, where young Albanian students learn the extremist Wahhabi and Salafi theology, is part of this organization.
