Check out my Congressional Testimony for the Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa: "Tunisia’s Fragile Democratic Transition"

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and members of the committee, for giving me the opportunity to testify today on Tunisia’s transition since its election late last year — in particular focusing on the jihadi threat to it and the Tunisian and American governments’ policies in dealing with the problem. Currently, there are two main groups that are attacking the Tunisian state: an al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb cut-out called Katibat Uqba ibn Nafi (KUIN), mainly based in Jebel Chaambi on the western border with Algeria, and the Islamic State, which has a safe haven in Libya as well as cells inside of Tunisia.
Background on Terrorism-Related Activity and Actions in Response
Since the presidential elections, there have been a number of terrorism-related activities and actions taken in response inside of Tunisia. There have been eleven publicly known terrorist attacks either claimed or believed to be conducted by KUIN and the Islamic State since December 1, 2014. In response to this as well as proactive measures done by the state, there have been twenty-one occasions of arrests of those suspected of planning attacks or being connected to attacks that had already occurred. In addition to terrorist attacks and arrests, the Tunisian military has also been involved in offensive and defensive operations against insurgents ten times in this time span. This illustrates that the threat from jihadis is very real, but also that the Tunisian state has been quite proactive in attempting to stem any more attacks whether in the form of terrorism or insurgent activity.
Click here to read the full nine-page written testimony.