US must work with allies to fight extremism
Terrorist attacks in France send clear message to the US and the West: what happens in the Middle East will affect you
On Saturday, the world woke up to a tragedy that was reminiscent of September 11, 2001, attacks in the US. The attacks in Paris on Friday night, which left at least 129 people dead and more than 350 injured, is a wake-up call to remind the West that it is directly affected by events in the Middle East. The unrest the region has witnessed has, to a large extent, been caused by American disengagement, following its failure in Iraq.
It is not a coincidence that the Paris attacks happened after Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) was driven out of Sinjar Mountain in northwestern Iraq. Every time Daesh loses on the ground, it flexes its muscle in the West in order to keep its prestige among the extremist base. The Charlie Hebdo office attack in January this year came two days after the coalition intensified its air strikes against Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
This sends two clear messages to the US and the West: what happens in the Middle East will affect you, and you cannot fight Daesh merely by conducting air strikes. You have to work with your allies on the ground to eradicate extremism.
A large part of the problem the Middle East faces is a direct result of US mistakes in the region. The de-Baathification and establishment of a sectarian government in Iraq has alienated the Sunni population. On the Syrian front, Obama’s indecisiveness led to the continuation of the war. Daesh saw in Syria a country shattered by war and in the embittered Sunnis a fertile soil in which to start its endeavour.
Power vacuum
Many say the US has a grand plan to control the region. Actually, it is more logical to say that the lack of a grand plan contributed to unrest in Iraq. The problems we are witnessing today are partly because the US had no plan in Iraq on how to fill the power vacuum following the removal of Saddam Hussain. Similarly, they had no plan on how to fill the vacuum in post-Soviet Afghanistan, which ultimately led to the rise of the Taliban regime.
On the other hand, the Obama administration has adopted a passive policy towards the region, while laying the blame on America’s allies there. Some intellectuals, such as American journalist Fareed Zakaria, claim that extremism is an Arab problem. Other liberals such as Patrick Cockburn claim that the West should have not taken any role in the wake of the Arab Spring.
Seasoned politicians such as George Mitchell have said sarcastically that, in the Middle East, they need a hundred years to solve their problems, after that let them give the US a call.
However, today’s realities prove them wrong. Extremism resulting from regional conflicts is likely to cross the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. There is a need to eradicate the source of extremism, and this cannot be done unless the US takes a close look at the regional dynamics driving radicalisation. The region needs a long-term strategy for stabilisation and the US needs to work closely with its allies to achieve that. The US administration as well as the American public should be aware that they cannot leave the region to solve its problems on its own, because it will not.