Two days ago, ABC News reported that:
Coalition forces in Afghanistan are fighting a deadlier Taliban than ever, as jihadis returning from Iraq use techniques like suicide bombings and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to challenge NATO forces, experts tell ABC News.
"The cross-pollination from Iraq is making it much more difficult for NATO soldiers in Afghanistan," said Richard Clarke, former White House counter-terrorism czar.
Veterans of the Iraq civil war are training forces elsewhere as well, including in Somalia, North Africa, and Lebanon.
Via Nikolas Gvosdev, J. Peter Pham noted the rapid modernization of tactics used by Somali Islamists against Ethiopian forces, including the adoption of IEDs, attacks on helicopters, and sustained mortar exchanges:
All three of these shifts in combat tactics represent major advances on operational capacities relative to just a few months ago when the ICU was forced to abandon urban centers when confronted by Ethiopian conventional forces, but they also point to significant outside inputs from transnational jihadi networks.
Iraq fighters also appear to be moving to Lebanon to train Sunnis:
Sunni militants are moving into Lebanon from Iraq because they regard it as a soft target for terrorist attacks, a British government minister has warned.
In mid-March, Stratfor noted that veteran Iraq fighters were training terrorists in North Africa:
The Iraqi insurgency has proven to be an effective training ground for foreign jihadists, much as the Afghan resistance was two decades earlier. Al Qaeda sprang from the Afghan conflict, and today foreigners from Saudi Arabia, Syria, North Africa and elsewhere are honing their insurgent skills on the battlegrounds of Iraq -- and are then returning home to spread jihadist tactics. This has been seen most recently in the Maghreb, where the regional al Qaeda arm is increasingly employing improvised explosive devices in attacks, especially against foreign energy workers.
Just a week ago, the Algerian government arrested 120 men on suspicion of involvement in Iraq. Yesterday, three terrorists blew themselves up in Morocco when caught in a police raid. Today, bombs exploded in Algeria killing 24:
Al-Qaida's new wing in North Africa claimed responsibility for suicide bombings that ripped through the prime minister's office and a police station in Algeria on Wednesday, killing at least 24 people. The attacks highlighted the menacing spread of Islamic militancy across North Africa.
This was predicted.