How US Enabled Islamic Terror Ecosystem in South Asia

The American deep state is solely to be blamed for the creation of a terror ecosystem in South Asia, as United States' agencies not only provided funding but also trained the main Jihadi groups in the region, primarily due to their hatred for the erstwhile Soviet Union and Russia now, a noted author, who has written multiple books on militant groups have said.

Describing the US as the "facilitator and aider of terrorism" in the region, including India, Abhinav Pandya, the author of latest book 'Inside the Terrifying World of Jaish-e-Mohammed' and the founder of the Rajasthan-based national security think tank Usanas Foundation, told Sputnik India that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM*) is the biggest foreign security threat (read terrorist group) to India.

The terrorist organisation was responsible for bringing India and Pakistan on the brink of a full-fledged war on two occasions: in 2001 when the JeM attacked the Indian parliament and in 2019 when it orchestrated the deadly Pulwama bombing of a military convoy, killing 40 Indian soldiers.

American Deep State Behind JeM's Origins

The Jaish-e-Mohammed is an organisation that follows the Deobandi extremist ideology, which originated in the Indian subcontinent, Pandya noted.

JeM's ideological history goes back 150 years, much like the Deobandi movement, which spread its wings in South Asia after Mahmud Hasan Deobandi established the Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary, in the current Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the 19th century, he pointed out.

Over the years, Deobandi extremism took deep roots in Pakistan, replacing Sufism which is a mystical and ascetic form of Islam. Instead, the Deobandi idealogues advocated a puritanical, rigid, and extremist version of Islam, the think tanker mentioned.

"In 1979, when the Soviets intervened in Afghanistan, these Deobandi groups became a crucial asset for the American deep state because these were already highly radicalised people. The US wanted to create a force against the Soviet military, and they did it with the support of Pakistan, creating mujahideen which where primarily consisted of these Deobandi extremists," Pandya stated.

Several terrorist groups were formed like the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI*), which Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, the first Deobandi militant organisation in South Asia, founded. US agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), not only trained them but also supplied weaponry to assist them in their mission of wreaking havoc in Afghanistan at the time, the strategic affairs commentator elaborated.

From HuJI various other terrorist groups branched out, among the prominent ones were Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM*), Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA*), and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Incidentally, JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar has historical ties with HuJI as he studied at Madrasa Binoria in Karachi, which has produced most of these Deobandi extremists, including the former Taliban** chief Mullah Omar. Therefore, there are organic linkages between these militant Deobandi organisations, Pandya highlighted.

"For instance, Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda* provided seed funding to JeM, which further highlights that these groups are attached ideologically. Many people are not aware that bin Laden was very fond of JeM chief Masood Azhar's father, who was an Islamic cleric in Pakistan," the expert emphasised. "Moreover, Al-Qaeda appeared to have played a key role in the hijacking plan of the Indian Airlines plane that was taken to Kandahar to get him released in 1999, after Masood Azhar was arrested by Indian security forces in Kashmir in 1994 and was lodged in prison in the world's largest democratic state."

JeM's ideological vision is to establish an Islamic state, including all parts of India, which completely allies with Al-Qaeda's vision. However, it was the American intelligence agencies that facilitated and aided the creation and growth of these Deobandi terrorist organisations in Afghanistan due to their hatred of Soviet Russia, the pundit explained.

Connection Between ISKP & JeM

After Pakistan joined America's military campaign Global War on Terrorism (GWoT), a section of disgruntled JeM cadres formed the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP*) which has strong linkages with the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP*), because both terrorist organisations come from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region (former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) belt) of Pakistan, Pandya stressed.

Besides, ISKP and TTP have kith and kin associations, with their commanders or terrorists getting married to women folk in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan. Furthermore, ISKP includes some of the most hardcore Deobandi extremist Islamists and some of them have past linkages with TTP, the Haqqani Network*, and that's how JeM is linked to them, he remarked.

"ISKP orchestrated the deadly bombing of the Crocus City Hall in Moscow earlier this year and has been making efforts to make inroads into India, with the Indian security agencies busting around 25 modules of the group in various parts of the country, hinting at the high level of threat this group poses to India," Pandya added.

He suggested that their well-oiled propaganda machinery can drive ordinary Indian Muslims towards militancy in not only Kashmir but other parts of the nation as well, especially in the current Indian society which is getting more and more polarised and communal fault lines are getting harsh day by day.

Additionally, with ISKP expanding in Central Asia, particularly in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Russia needs to be very careful of the movement of its members, he underscored.

"That's why, India and Russia should cooperate and formulate a robust counter-terrorism mechanism, including intelligence swapping, de-radicalization campaigns, covert operations, etc because both face major threats from extremism, particularly radical Islamism," Pandya concluded.

* Terrorist organisations banned in Russia and other countries

** Under UN sanctions

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