The history of Western engagement in the Middle East and South Asia reveals a pattern in which radical Islamist movements were frequently used as strategic assets against secular or leftist rivals.

The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) involvement in the 1953 coup against prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran is now well-documented. The CIA coordinated with influential clerics, such as Ayatollah Kashani, to incite religious opposition against the Mosaddegh regime. Mosaddegh had nationalised British and American economic interests in the country.

Collaborating with the Iranian clergy demonstrated a willingness by Western intelligence networks to leverage the pulpit for regime change. Ironically, though, the clergy that was bolstered by the CIA went on to eventually reject the legitimacy of the Shah of Iran, whom the CIA had reinstalled after toppling Mosaddegh.

In the 1970s, while the CIA focused on suppressing leftist and nationalist anti-Shah forces, the clergy successfully co-opted a nationalist movement against the Shah, transforming it into an ‘Islamic Revolution’ that branded the US and the West as “satanic”. It was a miscalculation by Western intelligence agencies that were prioritising the elimination of ‘socialism’ over the potential rise of theocratic governance.

Western powers once instrumentalised political Islam to counter socialism. Today, the same forces are recast by the West as existential threats. Now, as countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia move away from past Islamist frameworks, a new, more pragmatic regional identity is emerging

Western powers once instrumentalised political Islam to counter socialism. Today, the same forces are recast by the West as existential threats. Now, as countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia move away from past Islamist frameworks, a new, more pragmatic regional identity is emerging

The British........

© Dawn (Magazines)