Lessons from the Mediterranean Strategy Group: Why Algeria Isn't Exporting Jihadists

Mediterranean states have considerable experience with the foreign fighter phenomenon, in the circulation of fighters from the Maghreb to Afghanistan in the 1980s, and in the more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today, virtually all North African states are leading contributors to the contingent of foreign fighters operating in Syria and Iraq. Algeria is a remarkable exception to this rule. At GMF’s 13th Mediterranean Strategy Group in Naples, Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck, research analyst at Carnegie, explains why Algeria isn’t exporting as many fighters to Syria and Iraq as its neighbors.