Understanding The Problem Of So Called “Islamic Terrorism”
By
Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam
11 January
2023
Osama Was Fighting In Afghanistan As The Arab Leader
Of The Mujahideen. Al-Qaeda Was The Name Given To The Database Maintained By
The US Of The Mujahideen Fighting In Afghanistan Who They Were Aiding. The
Mujahideen Who Became Al-Qaeda Were Hailed As Heroes By President Reagan.
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A solution
to any problem is possible only when we understand what caused the problem. The
causes then need to be taken care of or eliminated to prevent further
aggravation of the problem or its spread.
Outside the
Palestine/Israel theatre, the so called “Islamic terrorist” activity began when
the “Afghan Mujahideen” who were hailed as freedom fighters by the US and the
rest of the World, morphed into Al Qaeda.
Birth Of
The Afghan Mujahideen
The US led
the Soviet Union into the Afghan trap by aiding the Islamic fundamentalist
Mujahideen six months before the Russians made their move, knowing that
"this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention".
Interview
with Zbigniew
Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser, Le Nouvel
Observateur, Paris, 15-21 January 1998
Question: The former director of the CIA,
Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that
American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6
months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national
security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this
affair. Is that correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official
version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to
say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality,
secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979
that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents
of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the
president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to
induce a Soviet military intervention.
Q: Despite this risk, you were an
advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet
entry into war and looked to provoke it?
B: It isn't quite that. We didn't push
the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they
would.
Q: When the Soviets justified their
intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret
involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them.
However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?
B: Regret what? That secret operation
was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the
Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially
crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of
giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to
carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about
the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having
supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future
terrorists?
B: What is most important to the
history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some
stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold
war?
Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has
been said and repeated Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.
B: Nonsense! It is said that the West
had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global
Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion.
It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is
there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan
militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than
what unites the Christian countries.
Without the
activism of the US, the Russians may never have entered Afghanistan. As a
matter of fact, they had shown considerable reluctance to do so and were
supporting the Socialist regime only from outside. Even if the Russians had
entered Afghanistan, they would have left after completing their mission of
consolidating the Socialist regime. The US help emboldened the rebels. It is a
repeat of the story of what the US did in South America of arming, training and
aiding the rebels whom they called contra revolutionaries or contras to
overthrow Socialist regimes.
Osama was
fighting in Afghanistan as the Arab leader of the Mujahideen. Al-Qaeda was the
name given to the database maintained by the US of the Mujahideen fighting in
Afghanistan who they were aiding. The Mujahideen who became Al-Qaeda were
hailed as heroes by President Reagan.
The
Problem Inherent In A ‘Solution’ Involving Civilian Fighters
Wars are
fought by countries under the direction and control of their government. The
“Mujahideen” who fought the war to drive out the Russians were drawn from 35
countries and numbered around three hundred thousand. There was no government
(in Afghanistan or in exile) to manage and control them and therefore none to
take care of them after the war. They were left to fend for themselves. The US
and Pakistan simply washed their hands off the problem once the war was over.
If the US
were to disband their army in Afghanistan and leave the soldiers with their
arms to fend for themselves, we can expect them to behave just like the Taliban
or perhaps worse.
Hillary
Clinton (Secretary of State) understood the nature of the problem very well and
said while answering a question during an interview with Fox News's Greta Van
Susteren: “To be fair we had helped to create the problem we are now fighting.
Because when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, we had this brilliant idea,
that we were gonna come to Pakistan and create a force of Mujahideen, equip
them with stinger missiles and everything else to go after the Soviets inside
Afghanistan…. and we were successful. The Soviets left Afghanistan and then we
said great! good bye! and washed our hands off, leaving these trained people
who were fanatical in Afghanistan and Pakistan, leaving them well-armed,
creating a mess frankly, that at the time we really didn't recognize, we were
just so happy to see the Soviet Union fall, and we thought ok fine, we're ok
now, everything's going to be so much better. Now you look back, the people
we're fighting today, we were supporting in the fight against the
Soviets."
The US army
applies several filters in their recruitment process and a candidate who
inclines to the religious right is not selected. Such people have been found to
be the ones more likely to remain maladjusted after a war and indulge in
senseless violence such as shooting sprees.
In the case
of the "mujahideen", normal boys were put through a process of
indoctrination in religious extremism using experts from Palestine in specially
set up madrassas!
The US
understood the risks very well based on their well-documented research which
has become the basis of their selection policies, but didn't care and I doubt
if Pakistan and Saudi Arabia anticipated the problems these fighters would
create after the war.
The
Afghan Mujahideen Heroes Morph Into “Terrorists”
The US
fought a proxy war with the Soviet Union arming/training the Mujahideen. The
war broke the might of the Soviet Union who suffered an ignominious defeat,
leaving the US the only superpower. The US pre occupation with the communist
world ended, allowing it to focus on the strategic oil rich Middle East.
Saddam
obliged by occupying Kuwait giving Bush the opportunity to enter the ME. When
Saddam looked ready to withdraw from Kuwait, Bush unleashed a volley of abuses,
making it impossible for Saddam to withdraw and save face, forcing a war. This
was in 1991.
The Afghan
Mujahideen had offered to liberate Kuwait just as they had liberated
Afghanistan from the Soviets but the Saudi monarch was afraid of the growing
influence of Osama and felt insecure. He therefore invited the US to help
liberate Kuwait. It would have been much cheaper and safer for the US to use
the Mujahideen to drive out the Iraqis. This however did not meet their
objectives for a larger role in the ME. This was the beginning of the rift
between the US and the Afghan Mujahideen who now morphed into Al Qaeda.
All the so
called Islamic terrorist incidents are after the first Gulf war and the first
of these incidents was on February 26, 1993 – World Trade Centre bombing, in
New York City. 6 killed.
The
Magnitude Of The Problem
While it
should have been absolutely clear to all that it was a blunder to have used
civilians to fight wars and thereafter leave them to fend for themselves,
nothing has changed.
These
“Mujahideens” or “terrorists” continue to be used by the US, Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan. They have been used in Libya to overthrow Gaddafi and they are being
used in Syria to oust Bashar al- Assad.
Pakistan
has used them against India in the past.
The
approximately 1000 Madrasas set up in Pakistan to indoctrinate the “Mujahideen”
to wage “Jihad” continue to function with local and foreign students
ensuring a steady supply of fresh “Jihadis”.
The Problem
however is confined mostly for the Muslim countries alone or in the country
where these people reside. These people make very little impact on the rest of
the World.
The
Individual “Jihadis” who can strike anywhere are a different people who
are more likely to be University graduates and whose motives are purely
political and directly correlated with specific incidents that aggravate the
grievances. A Department of Defence study in 1997 concluded that:
"Historical data show a strong correlation between US involvement in
international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the
United States." Former president Jimmy Carter, some years after he left
the White House, was unambiguous in his agreement with this: “We sent Marines
into Lebanon and you only have to go to Lebanon, to Syria or to Jordan to
witness first-hand the intense hatred among many people for the United States
because we bombed and shelled and unmercifully killed totally innocent
villagers—women and children and farmers and housewives—in those villages
around Beirut...As a result of that...we became kind of a Satan in the minds of
those who are deeply resentful. That is what precipitated the taking of our
hostages [in Iran] and that is what has precipitated some of the terrorist
attacks.” However, attacks by individual “Jihadis” are extremely rare
and in terms of actual loss caused, they have caused little damage. In the 13
years since 9/11 only 33 deaths in the US are attributed to such people.
The World Gets A Shock
According
to the Soufan group, a very small number of 3000 westerners from Europe and
North America joined the war in Syria/Iraq. The highest number was from France
numbering around 700 followed by UK numbering around 400, Belgium and Australia
250 each, Germany 270, US 70 etc. These countries were worried about what these
small numbers will do after they return and were planning several measures to
deal with the problem.
If such
small numbers caused so much worry requiring elaborate measures to deal with
the situation, why do these countries not worry about the thousands from Muslim
countries who got involved in Afghanistan and now in Syria? If they are worried
about the small number of what their own nationals may do after the war, why is
it so difficult for the world to understand what half a million of such people
spread across 35 countries have been doing which goes in the name of “Islamic
terrorism”? These people are doing what they have been taught to do in state
sponsored and supported Madrasas and it is normal behavior for them. To expect
anything else from them is insanity.
Is it not
hypocrisy that while the US, UK, etc. continue to back the foreign civilian
fighters in Syria and elsewhere, they were worried about the very small numbers
from their own country who have got involved?
The
Solution
It is a
huge problem that must be tackled. Blaming does not help. Understanding what
the problem is and how it came about is necessary to prevent more of the same
and to reverse the process.
The first
step is to close down those 1000 madrasas which were set up specially for the
purpose of churning out “Jihadis”. Although the Russians have left, not a
single madrassa has been shut down or changed into a normal madrassa. Yes, the
US cannot be blamed for this but only Pakistan, except that the US is aware of
what is going on but will not do anything to put an end to the nonsense.
Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan and other countries which have the problem of terrorism from
their own citizens, should absorb those who can be retrained for Army
discipline into their armies. The rest should also be accounted for by
imprisonment if necessary.
We should
raise awareness among the general public of what has caused the problem in the
first place and what needs to be done to put an end to it and count on public
pressure on their governments to effectively deal with the situation and bring
the problem to an end.
As
described, not even a single step has been taken to put an end to the menace of
terrorism while reams have been written and lip service paid.
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A frequent contributor to
NewAgeIslam.com, Naseer Ahmed is an Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is
an independent IT consultant after having served in both the Public and Private
sector in responsible positions for over three decades. He has spent years
studying Quran in-depth and made seminal contributions to its interpretation.
URL: https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/islamic-terrorism-us-afghan-mujahideen/d/128851
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