Contemplating religious extremism
In the struggle against Islamic extremism it is especially ironic that the West is being assisted by the very nature of extremism itself.
The jihadists who seek to impose an intolerant and oppressive brand of Islam are going too far, overplaying their hand, thereby provoking a strong counter-reaction in what is essentially a struggle for the Muslim soul.
When all is said and done, if the Sunni Muslims of the world really prefer the harsh version of Islam advocated by the Taliban and Al Qaeda, then all the armies in the Western world will not be able to prevent its spread. And if Shiite Muslims everywhere want an Iranian-style theocracy, then nothing we can do will prevent that either.
But evidence is filtering in that Muslims really don’t want their faith to be forced into the extremes. Pakistan, having at first tolerated its own Islamist insurgency, is now reacting strongly against it. It is not only the army, the Pakistani people themselves are forming militias to resist. Whereas many Pakistanis once viewed the fight against the Taliban as more America’s war than their own, today Pakistanis see a mortal danger and are at last doing something about it.
The Taliban is mostly an affair of the Pashtun people who inhabit Pakistan’s northwest frontier. The people of the Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province, and the Sind, home to the country’s biggest city, Karachi, are less susceptible to Islamic extremism, although extremism has grown in recent years. But, as a former diplomat put it recently, Pakistan is made up of separate compartments — not completely water-tight — but tight enough to impede the jihadi advance. What plays well on the frontier does not in Lahore, which has felt the lash of imported extremism.
There was a time when it looked as if the jihadists were contemplating a class war in Pakistan, which might have had appeal in areas where landlords control too much political power. But having confiscated land and chased landlords out of some areas, the Taliban didn’t follow through to give land to the people.
Pashtuns also form Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group, but the religious intensity of the Pashtuns is not felt among the ethnic groupings of the north. That is why the Northern Alliance was our strong ally in defeating the Taliban in 2001. As in Pakistan there is a natural firewall, not impenetrable, but impeding.
In Iraq, it was the “Awakening,” the popular revolt against extremists in Anbar Province, that changed the nature of the war. The Sunnis of Anbar, who were engaged in resisting the Americans, turned on Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and became American allies, largely because of the cruelty and fanaticism of the local Al Qaeda franchise. Sunnis became disenchanted with the brutality and the murder of their tribal elders.
The leader of Iraq’s Al Qaeda , Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who was later killed by an American bomb, had even alarmed the home office. Osama bin Laden’s number two, Ayman al Zawahiri, warned Zarqawi that his ultra-nasty tactics might be counter productive.
As for Iraq’s Shiites, although heavily influenced by Iran, they seem not to be interested in reproducing Iran’s theocratic form of government.
It may be a little early to perceive this trend of growing resistance to extremism in Lebanon, but it was encouraging to see forces opposed to Hezbollah win the recent election. Hezbollah earned hero status in the Arab world by putting up a good fight against Israel three years ago, but less militant and more pro-Western parties carried the day at the polls this time around.
We may also be seeing a step back from militancy in Iran, with the forces aligned with Mir-Hussein Mousavi so energized in the election battle to unseat Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. There is a political consensus in Iran that the country has a right to develop nuclear technology, but it would be very encouraging to see Iranian voters turn away from the hostile and messianic rhetoric of Ahmadinejad.
Jihadists were greatly furthered in their cause by America’s over-reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, especially the invasion of Iraq where Al Qaeda didn’t exist. Anti-American feeling in the Middle East went to alarming heights during the Bush administration. But outreach to Muslims, and getting serious about a two–state solution for Palestine, have become cornerstones of President Obama’s foreign policy.
Middle East fanatics, whether they be Israeli settlers who drop the Barack and call the president by his middle name, Hussein, or Al Qaeda itself, rightly see Obama as a major threat. But in the Muslim world extremism itself seems to be losing some of its appeal.
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