Europe's terror problem is from European nationals not outsiders

The Brussels attack was yet another grim reminder of how weak the world is when it comes to fighting terror. Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for the President of the United States of America renewed his call to shut down the border until it was figured out what was going on.

However is this the solution? What Europe will have to understand clearly is that the threat perception has not been from the foreigners off late. It has been from the Europeans themselves who have joined the ISIS in large numbers. These persons who had left the country to join the ISIS have returned to spread havoc and create mayhem.

Problem begins at home:

The ISIS poses a unique problem. The success of the ISIS lies in the fact that it has captured the imagination of several persons in the world. The targeted audience for the ISIS has never been restricted to Iraq or Syria alone. When looking at the numbers on the world stage, the highest number of fighters are from the European nations.

Belgium alone has 250 of its nationals fighting alongside the ISIS. While this is a known number, there is a watch on 1,000 others who are missing and suspected to be part of the ISIS in some way or the other. Take for instance the Paris attacks of November 2015. A majority of those involved in the attack were from Europe. Salah Abdeslam the man arrested five days ago in connection with the Paris attack was a French citizen born in Belgium.

Shutting down the borders can never be the solution in such a scenario. This would lead to unwanted problems for the innocent. Instead Europe would need to take a different approach to the problem and identify its nationals who have left the country to join the ISIS. The fact is that these persons who have joined the ISIS and trained hard are returning home and carrying out these strikes.

While on one hand Europe must keep a close watch on its citizens returning from the ISIS camps, on the other it must also ensure that they do not leave in the first place. This can be achieved with better intelligence and global cooperation.