Is al-Qaeda driving the fight in Chechnya?
In aligning itself with America’s war on terrorism, the Russian government has repeatedly insisted a relationship exists between Chechen rebels and al-Qaeda. President Vladimir Putin casts the conflict – once strongly criticized by the U.S. government – in terms of civil strife inflamed by international terrorism. That assessment, for the most part, goes unchallenged by the West. While Islamic extremism has predictably colored parts of this conflict, the core of Chechnya’s struggle has always been its long-held dream of independence.
