JASON BURKE, the International Security correspondent for the Guardian, has been a foreign correspondent for almost 30 years, reporting from the Middle East, South Asia, Europe and Africa. He is one of the foremost writers on terrorism and the author of four critically acclaimed books: The New Threat from Islamic Militancy, shortlisted for the Orwell Prize; The 9/11 Wars, 'the best overview of the 9/11 decade in print' (The Economist); the ground-breaking Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam and On the Road to Kandahar: Travels through Conflict in the Islamic World. He lives near London.