Inspired by the commitment of the "mujahedeen," Begg said he travelled to Bosnia in the early 1990s to help the Muslims during the war. He said he was "terribly affected by some of the stories ... of the atrocities taking place there". In 1994 he joined a charity that worked with Muslims in Bosnia. He states he "very briefly" joined the Bosnian Army Foreign Volunteer Force: "In Bosnia, I did fight for a while. But I saw people horribly damaged, and I thought, This is not for me". Begg first met Khalil Deek in Bosnia.