We witnessed a similar process in the relationship between Sharia movement in the northern Nigeria and the emergence of Boko Haram. This WSJ article says: The [Pakistani Defense]minister said the problem of militancy in Pakistan stemmed from the countrys mistake of allowing itself to be used by the U.S. to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s by supporting the Islamist resistance there. We radicalized because they [the U.S.] wanted jihad, a made-in- America jihad, said Mr. Asif. These groups were useful to them in the 80s. The groups were useful to us also, at some stage. So they have flourished. They have multiplied. We are paying a very heavy price for the radicalization of our religion in Pakistan. After the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, Pakistan continued to use jihadist groups to pursue its interests, including a branch that the countrys intelligence agencies turned on India in the disputed region of Kashmir. In the interview, Mr. Asif accused the U.S. of duplicity, saying it supported jihadist groups in Syria while fighting them in Afghanistan. He said that while Pakistan is criticized for using proxies, the U.S. and the Western world have done the same in Syria—where the armed opposition supported by Washington and others has come to be dominated by radical Islamist groups, a movement that is now also rampaging across Iraq. They are fighting the same people in Afghanistan and supporting them in Syria. I think this is shameful, said Mr. Asif. U.S. officials say they have sought to back moderate elements of the Syrian rebellion and have urged those elements to fight the more radical, jihadist groups within the antigovernment camp.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 06:15:19 +0000
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