Interest piece today in Pakistan Today.
Saudi Arabia, the mainspring of Islamic extremism
The Pakistani security establishment is rightfully blamed for creating the Taliban; but the phenomena of religious extremism and terrorism are not limited to Pakistan; this conflagration has engulfed the whole Islamic world from Iraq and Syria to Algeria and Indonesia and even the Muslim minorities in China, Thailand and Philippines. The Pakistani establishment does not have access to all these regions, thus, aside from local actors, some regional and global actors are also responsible for creating the menace of Islamic extremism and terrorism. A more holistic understanding of the problem will identify three actors responsible for creating this menace: the Pakistani security establishment; the Saudi and Gulf petro-monarchies, and last but not the least, the western support for the Afghan Jihad during the Cold War.
A July 2013 EU’s parliament report also identified the Wahabi-Salafi roots of Global Terrorism; a laudable report which ironically or rather expectedly doesn’t even make a passing reference to the role of western powers in sponsoring Islamic terrorism during the 1980s. Plausible deniability in waging proxy wars is a clever Machiavellian tactic in realpolitik, but it is also a form of “denial” which is always a part of the problem and never a part of the solution. Truth is a sine qua non in any “Truth and Reconciliation” approach. But this write-up is about the role of Saudi Arabia as the proverbial “Caliph of Islam” in promoting extremism and terrorism in the Muslim Ummah or Commonwealth.
Continue reading at:
Saudi Arabia the mainspring of Islamic extremism Pakistan Today?
Saudi Arabia, the mainspring of Islamic extremism
5 HOURS AGO BY NAUMAN SADIQ
The Pakistani security establishment is rightfully blamed for creating the Taliban; but the phenomena of religious extremism and terrorism are not limited to Pakistan; this conflagration has engulfed the whole Islamic world from Iraq and Syria to Algeria and Indonesia and even the Muslim minorities in China, Thailand and Philippines. The Pakistani establishment does not have access to all these regions, thus, aside from local actors, some regional and global actors are also responsible for creating the menace of Islamic extremism and terrorism. A more holistic understanding of the problem will identify three actors responsible for creating this menace: the Pakistani security establishment; the Saudi and Gulf petro-monarchies, and last but not the least, the western support for the Afghan Jihad during the Cold War.
A July 2013 EU’s parliament report also identified the Wahabi-Salafi roots of Global Terrorism; a laudable report which ironically or rather expectedly doesn’t even make a passing reference to the role of western powers in sponsoring Islamic terrorism during the 1980s. Plausible deniability in waging proxy wars is a clever Machiavellian tactic in realpolitik, but it is also a form of “denial” which is always a part of the problem and never a part of the solution. Truth is a sine qua non in any “Truth and Reconciliation” approach. But this write-up is about the role of Saudi Arabia as the proverbial “Caliph of Islam” in promoting extremism and terrorism in the Muslim Ummah or Commonwealth.
Continue reading at:
Saudi Arabia the mainspring of Islamic extremism Pakistan Today?
