The report noted that the United States and its partners made major strides to defeat and degrade international terrorist organizations in 2019. Along with the Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), the United States completed the destruction of the so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria in March. In October, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi died following a U.S. military raid on his Syrian compound. In April, the Secretary of State designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including its al-Quds Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization – the first-time a part of a foreign government has been designated as such. In September, President Trump ordered the most significant update of U.S. terrorism designation authorities since the aftermath of 9/11. And throughout the year, a number of governments in the Western Hemisphere and Europe announced their designations of Hizballah as a terrorist organisation. 

The report also discussed U.S. efforts to address new and ongoing challenges, including the repatriation of foreign terrorist fighters, particularly to Western Europe; the expansion of ISIS branches and networks in Africa; and the threat of racially or ethnically motivated terrorism. 

In regard to Azerbaijan, the report highlighted that the Azerbaijani government actively worked to deter, detect, and defeat terrorist efforts to move people, money, and materials across its land and maritime borders and within the South Caucasus.  Azerbaijani law enforcement and security services conducted operations to disrupt and prevent terror attacks, arrested and prosecuted suspected terrorists, and prosecuted returning Azerbaijanis suspected of joining or financing terrorist groups fighting outside Azerbaijan. The report further underlined that law enforcement and security agencies in the country continued to exhibit wide discretion in determining what activities qualify as “terrorism” or “extremism,” leaving political opponents and religious activists vulnerable to prosecution, detention, and physical mistreatment.  Such individuals have been especially vulnerable to physical abuse by the Interior Ministry’s organized crime unit.

In the field of countering the financing of terrorism:  it was highlighted that Azerbaijan continued to implement its “National Action Plan for 2017-2019 on combating criminally acquired money, legalization of other properties, and financing of terrorism.” The announcement of Azerbaijan’s State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, the Ministry of Education and the Caucasus Muslim Board programme to counter violent extremism was highlighted as a major achievement. This course on religion will be included in the curriculum of public middle schools and public universities in Azerbaijan. In the field of international cooperation, Azerbaijan’s participation in NATO’s Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, where it deployed 120 peacekeeping troops, and contributed to the Afghan National Army Trust Fund was highlighted.

As for Georgia, the report noted that the country participated in numerous bilateral counter-terrorism (CT) exercises and trainings with the United States and remained a strong security partner to the US. In addition to implementing several amendments to the criminal code aimed at strengthening CT legislation, Georgia adopted its three-year National Strategy for the Fight Against Terrorism and action plan following the establishment of its SSSG-led Permanent Interagency Commission in 2018. 

In the field of countering the financing of terrorism Georgia’s adoption of the ‘Law on Facilitating the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing’ was also highlighted. The law aims to create effective monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, enhances the ability of law enforcement to retrieve information from the Financial Monitoring Service in Georgia and includes insurance brokers, law firms, and certified accountants in the list of reporting entities.

Regarding Georgia’s fight against violent extremism, the report noted that the country  and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) jointly hosted a seminar on the involvement of society in the prevention of terrorism. This was  the first of its kind to be hosted in Tbilisi and it emphasized the prevention-oriented measures as a key component of Georgia’s National Strategy on the Fight Against Terrorism. The  “Pankisi Eco-Links” project with USAID, which aims to bridge inter-community divides and economic and social isolation in the Pankisi Gorge region by facilitating people-to-people interactions around economic incentives was also mentioned as a milestone.

In the field of international cooperation, the report noted that in 2019, Georgia continued to improve its border, maritime, and aviation security. Of special mention was the close cooperation between the  Georgian authorities with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other international partners in the SBU’s detention of ISIS commander and Georgian citizen Tsezar Tokhosashvili, aka Al Bara Shishani, in Ukraine. Tokhosashvili, the deputy to former ISIS commander and Georgian citizen Tarkhan Batirashvili, aka Abu Omar al Shishani, entered Ukraine on falsified documents in 2018 and had been coordinating ISIS activities from Ukraine over the past year.