2025-06-16 08:24:00
America and the Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism: A Complicated History
The United States’ relationship with the Middle East has been a tangled web, with unforeseen consequences rippling across decades.
- America’s involvement in the Middle East has had unintended consequences for Islamic fundamentalism.
- The US supported regimes that later fell to fundamentalist movements.
- Events like the Iranian Revolution and the rise of groups like the Mujahedeen have reshaped the region.
Did the United States, in its pursuit of foreign policy objectives, inadvertently fuel the rise of Islamic fundamentalism? The historical record suggests a complex relationship, where American actions, intended or not, played a role in the trajectory of the Middle East. The seeds of this intricate dance between the US and the Islamic world were sown long ago.
In the era of modernization, the last Shah of Persia, Reza Pahlavi, gave an interview. An interviewer questioned the Shah about political prisoners. The Shah’s response was chilling, “Miss, Mr. Rouleau, there are no hundreds, thousands. But I guarantee that with a policy accommodating this country in less than ten years will become an Islamic Republic governed by Sharia!”
The prediction proved eerily accurate. Iran became, and remains, an Islamic Republic. This event, in turn, spurred a revival of fundamentalist Islam throughout the Muslim world, even in Saudi Arabia. Westerners who lived there observed an increase in fundamentalism over the last two decades.
The United States, a driving force for change in the last two centuries, has, perhaps unintentionally, contributed to this phenomenon. The Americans withdrew support from the Shah. The list goes on. The Soviet-Afghan war of the 1980s saw the CIA supporting the Mujahedeen. Osama Bin Laden rose to infamy.
In the new millennium, secular regimes were challenged, from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to Syria under Bashar al-Assad. The 2000s also saw the erosion of secular traditions in Turkey. The US granted Turkey considerable support. The Obama-Clinton strategy to support the “Arab Springs” further bolstered the rise of fundamentalist Islam.
Why does this happen? Perhaps the answer lies in a feature of the American character: haste. This “haste” fueled the belief that China would become a “normal” capitalist country, which was quickly followed by disappointment.
