Hizbut Tahrir gaining popularity in Central Asia, whilst posing a global threat [AV]

In spite of, or possibly because of, repressive policies in Central Asia, the Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir has been gaining popularity. This is alarming in and of itself, but it is the group's operations in Europe which highlight the global threat it poses.

Zeyno Baran has written the authoritative monograph on Hizbut Tahrir. Hizbut's response to Zeyno Baran's book manages to hold off for thirty words before comparing her to Joseph Goebbels.

Although it has a stronghold in Central Asia, Hizbut Tahrir has always been particularly active in Europe and the United Kingdom, where it is forced to operate in the shadows. As Baran explains in her monograph, one of the things that makes Hizbut Tahrir unique among Islamist groups is the ability of its members to come across as disarmingly suave and articulate.

Indeed, Hizbut Tahrir operates its own London-based glossy magazine, New Civilisation, whose editor Sajjad Khan, a regular on the London speaking circuit, sees the emergence of a global Islamic caliphate as unavoidable.