Why would a Uighur militant be a part of Al Qaida? In the 2013 report "Terrorism in China," UVA Assistant Professor Philip B.K. Potter traces it to "China’s ongoing security crackdown in Xinjiang [forcing] the most militant Uyghur separatists into volatile neighboring countries, such as Pakistan, where they are forging strategic alliances with, and even leading, jihadist factions affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban."