Foreign Aid: Terrorism’s Greatest Threat

In today’s world, terrorism has become more organized, as groups such as the Islamic State and Boko Haram use advanced strategy and ideas in order to grow. From drone strikes to boots on the ground, there are many potential solutions to fix the problem of terrorism around the world, but the most important might be foreign aid.

For many nations in the Middle East, the emergence of ISIS has greatly hindered their development. Syria, home of ISIS along with Iraq, was ranked 134 on the Human Development Index. In 2010, before the true rise of ISIS within Syrian borders, they were 23 spots higher, at 111. Syria is just one example of how terrorism within a country can stunt its development.

Before the Syrian Civil War, tourism in Syria was considerable as a result of the country having two of the oldest cities in Western Asia. In 2010, 8.5 million people were estimated to have visited Syria — bringing in revenue of around $8.4 billion.

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The conflict in Syria has greatly affected popular tourist destinations, with the United Nations reporting that shelling has damaged five of Syria’s six World Heritage sites.

Terrorism in a country can also mean a decrease in foreign direct investment. While FDI in Syria (continuing to use the nation as an example) almost reached $2 billion in 2010, there was no recorded investment in 2013 at all.

A high unemployment rate is another aspect of a country that foreign aid could help lower. High unemployment means that there are more people with nothing to do during the day, and they may be easier to convince to join terror groups who offer people something meaningful to base their life around. Pumping money into a country can stimulate businesses, which means they will hire more employees.

If the United States, for example, wishes to use their Agency for International Development (USAID) to counter terrorism, a step up in poverty relief should be a key feature of that plan. Poverty relief helps educate the poor, who are prime recruitment targets for terror groups.

The way that foreign aid is able to stop the growth of global terror threats is that it keeps terrorists from getting to the level of being able to recruit internationally by exploiting certain groups of people, whether they are unemployed, poor, or else. Foreign aid is also beneficial to poorer countries that can use the money to invest more in education while also increasing funding for much-needed security to keep terrorists outside their borders. Overall, foreign aid is an often-ignored aspect of important counterterrorist activities that arguably has a greater impact than air strikes, especially when it comes to promoting peace instead of violence.

Sources: United Nations, The National, fDiIntelligence