Paladin is pleased to provide you with this exclusive high-level analysis of the rise of the terrorist threat that all citizens now face in their daily lives. Tracing Sunni Islamic extremism - the kind espoused by Usamah bin Ladin - from its origins in Saudi Arabia, former intelligence officer Carl Hammer chronicles how it came to the fore during the Soviet war in Afghanistan and erupted with the 9/11 attacks on the United States. In addition to detailing the political and military situation in Afghanistan and the neighboring countries at the outset of the subsequent War on Terror, Hammer also examines the evolution of Islamic extremism in other key countries and regions (a series of appendices details the situation in countries as diverse as Algeria, Yemen and the Philippines, among others), as well as how the West has attempted to combat it. He concludes with a frank assessment of the potential for eventually eradicating the threat from Islamic extremism and winning the War on Terror.