Editing Operation Enduring Freedom (section)

===Abu Sayyaf Group===
{{Main|Abu Sayyaf}}
The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) Al Harakat Al Islamiyya, is deemed a "foreign terrorist organization" by the United States government. Specifically, it is an [[Islamist]] separatist group based in and around the southern islands of the Republic of the Philippines, primarily [[Jolo]], [[Basilan]], and [[Mindanao]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/abu-sayyaf-group-philippines-islamist-separatists|title=Abu Sayyaf Group (Philippines, Islamist separatists)|work=Council on Foreign Relations|access-date=2018-05-21|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522041635/https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/abu-sayyaf-group-philippines-islamist-separatists|archive-date=22 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out [[bombing]]s, assassinations, [[kidnapping]]s, and [[extortion]] in their fight for an independent Islamic state in western [[Mindanao]] and the [[Sulu Archipelago]].<ref name=":0" /> Its claimed overarching goal is to create a Pan-Islamic superstate across the ''Malay'' portions of Southeast Asia, spanning, from east to west, the large island of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago (Basilan and Jolo islands), the large island of [[Borneo]] (Malaysia and Indonesia), the [[South China Sea]], and the [[Malay Peninsula]] ([[Peninsular Malaysia]], Thailand and [[Myanmar]]).