ISAS Working Papers

Since 2006, the insurgency in Afghanistan has been escalating, not decreasing in intensity. One of the weapons increasingly being used by insurgents is suicide bombing. Afghanistan now is the main site of this terrorist weapon in the world. So what motivates Taliban suicide bombers? The following insights into the motives of the perpetrators of suicide attacks are drawn from my research on one of the lethal weapons used by insurgents ÔÇô suicide bombing. Between 2001 and 2011, there were 545 such attacks in the country, resulting in 3,604 fatalities and injuring 10 times more. Suicide attacks constitute only four per cent of all insurgent attacks in Afghanistan but account for around 20 per cent of all insurgency-related deaths. Their main targets are the local and foreign forces.