AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW significance and necessity of spaces for training and operational planning to militants. Given that both networks sought to gain access to these spaces and used them to prepare for attacks, it also highlights the need to remove the ability to operate freely in these spaces – either through targeted military action or cooperation with local allies. Finally, it suggests that despite the widespread role of foreign/returned fighters in attack plots, European governments are still struggling to uncover these networks early enough or identify these individuals on their return. 3.6 The Afghan Connection Of those individuals profiled, the failure to effectively challenge Khalid Zerkani’s recruitment network 1194 until up to 40 people had left for Syria and Iraq echoes the inability to properly identify and challenge the networks used to recruit individuals to travel to Afghanistan in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Similarly to Zerkani, Abu Doha was allegedly able to use Finsbury Park Mosque to operate as one of the most 1195 significant al-Qaeda recruiters in Europe”, creating “one of the most significant groups of terrorists in 1196 the United Kingdom”. Djamel Beghal, meanwhile, frequented Finsbury Park Mosque and targeted the vulnerable young men who attended in his predatory efforts “to assemble a team of malleable volunteers” for al-Qaeda.1197 These included Richard Reid, recruited by Beghal after the men met at Finsbury Park 1198 1199 Mosque where Reid was staying, and Zacharias Moussaoui, and possibly even Jerome Courtailler, 1200 believed to have been converted to Islam by Beghal. The recruitment network at Finsbury Park Mosque also provided the means for new recruits to travel to Afghanistan, with David Courtailler given money and 1201 a fake passport by friends at Finsbury Park Mosque who sent him to train in Afghanistan. Of those profiled in the early networks, over twenty individuals had some of military training, most commonly training which had been provided in camps linked to al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. These include the individuals closely associated with the circles which developed at Finsbury Park Mosque such as 1202 1203 1204 Djamel Beghal, Kamel Daoudi, and Nizar Trabelsi, as well as those men Beghal and others are believed to have helped recruit at the mosque and elsewhere across London, such as Jerome and David 1205 1206 1207 1208 Courtailler, Zacharias Moussaoui, Richard Reid, and Saajid Badat. Abu Doha, meanwhile, 1209 travelled to Afghanistan and is alleged to have taken part in the administration of Khalden training camp, 1210 while his Canadian contact, Ahmed Ressam, attended the training camp in 1998. However, other networks also featured a significant number of men with foreign combat training, including the so-called ‘Frankfurt cell’. Slimane Khalfaoui allegedly admitted to having fought in Bosnia ! ! 1194 Faiola, A. and Souad Mekhennet, ‘The Islamic State creates a new type of jihadist: Part terrorist, part gangster’, The Washington Post, 20 December 2015. 1195 Norton-Taylor, R., ‘Algerian detainee deported to France for alleged terror links’, Guardian, 16 September 2006. 1196 O’Neill, S., ‘Immigration powers used to hold al-Qaeda kingpin in jail’, The Times, 20 October 2006. 1197 O’Neill, S. and Daniel McGrory, The Suicide Factory: Abu Hamza and the Finsbury Park Mosque (London: Harper Collins, 2006), p. 225. 1198 ibid. 1199 Bird, S., ‘Quiet existence in Leicester suburb masked complex terrorist network’, The Times, 2 April 2003. 1200 ‘Europe Fears Islamic Converts May Give Cover for Extremism’, The New York Times, 19 July 2004. 1201 Norton-Taylor, R. and Rosie Cowan, ‘Madrid bomb suspect linked to UK extremists’, Guardian, 17 March 2004. 1202 ‘Six jailed over Paris bomb plot’, BBC News, 15 March 2005. 1203 ibid. 1204 Simcox, R. et al., ‘Islamist Terrorism: The British Connections’, The Henry Jackson Society (2011), p. 366. 1205 Barnett, A. et al., ‘UK student's 'key terror role'’, Guardian, 28 October 2001; and Burke, J., ‘AK-47 training held at London mosque’, Guardian, 17 February 2002. 1206 ‘Restless convert in quest for jihad’, BBC News, 3 May 2006. 1207 ‘Sources: Reid is al Qaeda operative’, International CNN, 6 December 2003. 1208 ‘Deposition in U.S. v. Adis Medunjanin’, pp.7, 12, 19, 63-4 and 74. 1209 Gardham, D., ‘Terrorist 'linked to Osama bin Laden' released on bail’, The Telegraph, 3 July 2008. 1210 ‘United States v. Ressam’, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 12 March 2012. ! ! 95 !