While this is essentially, true, the issue has become Chechnya, whether it is politically correct to say so or not. Radical Islamists flocked to Chechnya to help them fight against Russia, the Mujadeen in Chechnya morphed into Al Qaeda.
Take a look at this and tell me that Chechnya is not part of the problem:
The Smell of Paradise - http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/smell-paradise/
-An Islamic world tour is documented here by visits to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Qatar, to highlight events post 9/11, including footage taken a few years before.
The film above all endeavors to shed light on the process leading young men to the radical choice of self-sacrifice, becoming human bombs.
The directors of the film traveled for ten years throughout these countries under heavy Muslim influence, and met with clan leaders, mullahs, and other strict followers of the Koran.
The Smell of Paradise was shot in Chechnya, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Qatar and Afghanistan, in places that have become white spaces on the map of Western journalism.
It takes the viewer not only into a different world, but also to another time. The result is a unique glance into the land of the jihad, the mental and physical battle that drives the Islamic fundamentalist movement.
http://www.amazon.com/Chechnya-Jihad-Marc-Andre-Meyers/dp/0916251179
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j70qbmdU3E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j70qbmdU3E
http://www.amazon.com/Chechnya-Jihad-Marc-Andre-Meyers/dp/0916251179
Are there links between Chechen groups and al-Qaeda?
Experts say there are several ties between the al-Qaeda network and Chechen groups. A Chechen warlord known as Khattab is said to have met with Osama bin Laden while both men were fighting the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Alexander Vershbow, a U.S. ambassador to Russia, said shortly after September 11, 2001, "We have long recognized that Osama bin Laden and other international networks have been fueling the flames in Chechnya, including the involvement of foreign commanders like Khattab." Khattab was killed in April 2002.
Zacarias Moussaoui, who was convicted for his involvement in the September 11 attacks, was reported by the Wall Street Journal to be formerly "a recruiter for al-Qaeda-backed rebels in Chechnya." Chechen militants reportedly fought alongside al-Qaeda and Taliban forces against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in late 2001. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was one of the only governments to recognize Chechen independence.
Russian authorities, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly stressed the involvement of international terrorists and Bin Laden associates in Chechnya--in part, experts say, to generate Western sympathy for Russia's military campaign against the Chechen rebels. Russia's former defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, claimed that a videotape of Khattab meeting with bin Laden had been found in Afghanistan, but Russia has not aired the tape publicly.