Paris - More and more Europeans and Americans are travelling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to be trained to carry out jihad, or Islamic armed struggle, against the West, the online edition of the French daily Le Figaro reported Tuesday on a blog dedicated to the region. Citing "several Western intelligence services," the report noted that at least 30 potential jihadists from Germany have traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan since the beginning of the year.
Last year, about 12 others returned to Germany from the area, provoking fears about the existence of dormant terrorist cells that could act eventually.
Anti-terrorist experts say that the Taliban and al Qaeda are exploiting the growing opposition in Germany towards the war in Afghanistan, where Berlin has deployed some 4,000 troops.
The report noted that intelligence services in the Netherlands also claim to have "a growing number of indications" that Europeans are traveling to the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan for training.
