The Incomprehensible Logic of Extremism and the Futility of Violent Ideology
By Ayaz Amir, Tr. New Age Islam
13 January 2026
Translate from Urdu to English by New Age Islam
From al-Qaeda to Hamas, the essay questions the rationality, outcomes, and moral costs of militant violence, contrasting it with genuine liberation struggles and exposing the political failures of the Muslim world.
Main Points
1. 9/11 brought no gains for al-Qaeda, only destruction for Afghanistan and Iraq.
2. Extremist attacks provoke devastating retaliation and deepen civilian suffering.
3. Pakistan’s Afghan entanglement bred long-term instability at home.
4. Unlike extremists, Vietnam fought military targets for a clear national goal.
5. Much of the Muslim world lacks vision, autonomy, and democratic depth.
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Someone once asked the people of al-Qaeda: what objective did you hope to achieve by flying planes into New York’s Twin Towers? The deaths of three thousand, or three and a half thousand people do not amount to any political or strategic goal. What was Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s thinking? What aims did they believe would be achieved by carrying out this act?
The Twin Towers did collapse, and a plane also crashed into the Pentagon, but in response, what the United States did led first to the destruction of Afghanistan and then to the devastation of Iraq. Most of al-Qaeda’s leadership was killed. Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were captured from this region. Sometime later, Osama bin Laden was tracked down, and just as the Americans carried out an attack in Venezuela and seized President Nicolás Maduro, American helicopters came, U.S. Navy SEALs landed in the compound where Osama bin Laden had made his residence, killed him, and took his body by helicopter to Bagram Air Base. Just as Venezuela had no idea an attack was coming, no one had any idea about this operation either.
Al-Qaeda’s number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was still alive, but the Americans eventually tracked him down as well. This happened in Kabul, right under the Taliban’s nose where Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a missile fired from a drone. When the attack on Afghanistan took place, whichever members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban fell into American hands were transferred to secret detention sites around the world, and what the CIA did to them there is enough to make one’s hair stand on end just by reading about it.
So where is al-Qaeda today? Some of its people may still be in Afghanistan, while some of its ideologically affiliated allies have set up bases around the Sahara Desert. Someone should at least explain to people like us, who lack understanding: what was the purpose of al-Qaeda’s thinking and of this entire struggle?
That is another matter that those who run our affairs were themselves constantly involved in Afghanistan’s unrest. After the attack on Afghanistan, how many al-Qaeda and Taliban members were there, or rather, how many armed groups who came and took refuge in Pakistan? They settled in the tribal areas and established their bases there. Many traditional tribal elders were killed at their hands. It was only when the situation became completely unmanageable that the state finally came to its senses and, in 2014, launched a full-scale campaign against these elements.
Today, when circumstances have changed entirely, we complain about Afghanistan, saying that armed groups cross the border and carry out attacks here. What we tend to forget, however, is that there was a time when groups from our side used to cross over and fuel unrest there.
Al-Qaeda is one matter, but what possessed Hamas to attack unarmed Israelis, to open fire on civilians, and to abduct many people and hold them hostage in Gaza’s tunnels? Did al-Qaeda really believe that after attacking the Twin Towers, the Americans would do nothing? In the same way, what did Hamas think, that unarmed Israelis would be targeted and Israel would simply stay silent?
Israel then unleashed a level of brutality that will remain recorded in the history of the Middle East. Gaza was devastated; fifty to sixty thousand residents of Gaza fell victim to Israeli brutality. But at the same time, Hezbollah and Iran, Hamas’s major backers, also suffered severe blows. Hezbollah’s leadership was wiped out in astonishing ways. Secret hideouts were struck by Israeli bombers and missiles in ways that leave one stunned just thinking about them. Hezbollah’s leadership, including Hassan Nasrallah, was in what was considered a secure location in Beirut when it was hit by Israeli airstrikes. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was staying in Tehran as an official guest when Israeli missiles targeted him there. Then came the attacks on Iran itself, in which many of its front-line leaders were struck by missiles.
Today, neither Hezbollah nor Iran remains in the position they once were. So the question must be asked again: had Hamas’s leadership completely lost its sense of reason when it planned the attack on Israel?
Compared to the Vietnam War, the so-called jihad in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda’s extremism hardly amount to anything. What brutality was it that the French first, and then the Americans, did not inflict on the Vietnamese nation? At the height of the war, half a million American troops were deployed in Vietnam, and the bombing carried out there exceeded the total bombing on all fronts of the Second World War.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Vietnamese people stood their ground, and in the end, exhausted and defeated, the Americans had to leave Vietnam. Throughout that entire war, the targets of the Vietnamese army and guerrilla fighters were military ones. Terrorism against civilians was never the way of the Vietnamese people. Suicide bombers were not created by dangling promises of heaven. The Vietnamese struggle was purely for the liberation of their own land.
Another point worth remembering is that during the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese Communist Party enjoyed full support from China, yet the Vietnamese people never accepted Chinese domination. They fought the Japanese, the French, and the Americans for their freedom and sovereignty. Those who helped them were never allowed to dominate them. The Vietnamese had a clear objective, and they achieved it.
Now the question is: what objectives do al-Qaeda and now Islamic State–Khorasan actually have? What is it that they want to achieve? And where do we stand collectively? The Muslim monarchies blessed with oil wealth are thriving, but where are the truly progressive and developed societies in the Islamic world? In many respects, Turkey has turned itself into a modern republic, but much of that is due to the revolution led by the secular-minded Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Malaysia is doing reasonably well, largely because of Mahathir Mohamad’s 17 years of leadership.
But what about the rest of the Islamic world? Israel has devastated the Muslims of that region, and the posture of Muslim leaders before Israel’s godfather, the United States, under President Donald Trump is hard to ignore. Oil-rich countries are in such a state that they are not even capable of defending themselves. American dominance provides protection to nations overflowing with oil reserves. Democracy, in any case, seems alien to our collective temperament. The so-called Arab Spring arrived with great fanfare, only to disappear without a trace.
Unlike most Muslim countries, Pakistan was founded on democratic principles. But when democracy is treated the way it has been here, its very foundations are weakened. Yet whoever comes to power starts delivering a new sermon all over again.
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