DEPROGRAMMED: How a man radicalized by the Taliban became a counterterrorism force saving lives from extremism
Mubin Shaikh, a former Jihadist radicalized by the Taliban, details the radicalization process that enamored him with extremist ideology, before he snapped out of those views to become a counter-terrorism specialist for the United States and Canada.
"The biggest indicator [of radicalization is] what we call pathway to violence behaviors. So, doing reconnaissance on a target, looking up, you know, where's the local synagogue? Where's the local mosque?" Shaikh told Fox News Digital.
"It's very important for parents, educators and others to be aware of these signs so that they can possibly prevent the next attack," he continued.
Shaikh’s introduction to radicalization began after a house party, where his uncle "guilt tripped" him into thinking the party was the "most heinous thing possible" he could’ve done that "dishonored" his family.
"That’s what made me tell myself, I need to get religious, and that is what would start my radicalization," he continued.
That incident prompted his travels to India, Syria and Pakistan, where he was radicalized by the Taliban.
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"The city that I was sent to in Pakistan was called Quetta and was and is a Taliban stronghold… I had a chance encounter with the Taliban who basically impressed upon me that the only way for me to really be successful in this world and the next world was to be a militant, was to fight in jihad," he added.
"Me, [as] this young man looking for a sense of meaning, belonging [and] identity, these guys gave me what I thought I was looking for - and I became a supporter of their mentality," Shaikh continued.
A few years later Shaikh got married — a reality he says started to clear the smoke around his extremist views.
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"The abstract conversations around theology and geopolitics yielded to the very real reality in front of me of having a wife and the idea that I could have a future, I could start a family, and so that became more important for me in my life. And that was basically addressing intimacy needs that every human being has. And so my interest in the extremist world started to wane a bit," he said.
September 11th, 2001 would later become the biggest single catalyst in deradicalizing Shaikh. The worst terrorist attack in American history prompted him to travel to Syria, and research Islamic studies in depth.
"I would spend two years there studying Arabic and Islamic studies and would go through this period of de-radicalization," he continued.
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When he returned to Canada, "the first Canadian had been arrested on terrorism charges after the newly minted post-9-11 anti-terror legislation" - Momin Khawaja - a fellow classmate and peer of Shaikh from Quran school during his childhood.
Shaikh saw reference to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and reached out to them, thinking Khawaja’s accusal a mistake. Once they confirmed his classmate’s arrest and spoke more to Shaikh, CSIS recruited him as an undercover operative in counterterrorism efforts.
"I was already online, looking at the extremism that was out there… and by 2012, started to see the rise of ISIS in real time. It was at this time that the US government reached out to me and said, 'Hey, can you help us out with what's coming?' And so from 2012 to 2020, I participated and I supported the coalition against ISIS in various anti-ISIS activities and operations," he continued.
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Shaikh works now as an exit peer specialist for Parents for Peace, a nonprofit fighting radicalization and extremism by intervening with individuals before it’s too late, most of whom "overwhelmingly are juveniles" under 18.
"What gives me hope in countering extremism is really seeing how people turn out after they've left extremist ideologies. It's like a night-and-day difference. And when they come to see the mistake that they were making, when they come to see the pathway that it was leading them towards and seeing that they have left that, their lives get better, their personal situation gets better," he continued.
"To see parents, you know, have their kid back again — that's what it's all about," Shaikh said.