The West has learned nothing from its mistakes. During the Cold War, the United States and its NATO allies supported Islamist militias in Afghanistan to weaken the Soviet Union – unwittingly laying the foundation for al-Qaeda.
Today, this pattern is repeating itself in Syria, only with new faces and old reflexes.
While secular Kurds in northern Syria bore the brunt of the ground offensive against the so-called Islamic State, the West is once again courting Islamist forces. This time, it’s being done directly with the self-proclaimed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Political Islam is not a sudden flare-up of religious fanaticism, but a powerful instrument that has evolved over centuries. Even in the Ottoman Empire, religious legitimation was combined with territorial expansion. Jihad never served purely spiritual purposes; it was a means of political control, plunder, and power expansion.
Europe vs the Islamic world
While Europe developed the Enlightenment, rationalism, and secularism, after the Thirty Years’ War, the separation of religion and rule remained foreign to many parts of the Islamic world. Ideological mobilization and power politics were closely intertwined from the beginning.
During the Cold War, the West deliberately exploited this logic. The United States, Britain, and other NATO states supported Islamist militias in Afghanistan to strengthen anti-Communist forces. Weapons, money, and training flowed to the mujahideen, from which al-Qaeda later emerged.
Now, the pattern is repeating itself, this time with Ankara and Doha as central actors. Turkey uses Islamist militias as an extension of its foreign policy. In Afrin, Serekaniye (Ras al-Ayn), and Tal Abyad, Turkish troops, together with these forces, expelled tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians. Their secular order was destroyed, and houses, fields, and businesses were plundered or confiscated.
Qatar provides the financing through supposed humanitarian foundations, religious organizations, and opaque financial channels. Doha maintains close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, with media platforms like Al Jazeera serving as mouthpieces.
Together, Ankara and Doha pursue the goal of deploying Islamism as a political counterweight to secular structures. The result is brutal: Sharia courts, expulsion of religious minorities, and exploitation of local resources are everyday occurrences in the areas they control.
Upheaval in Syria
The Kurds pay the price. In the fight against ISIS, the Kurdish YPG and YPJ militias liberated cities like Kobane and Raqqa and defeated ISIS in Syria. Tens of thousands of fighters died. As soon as ISIS was defeated, Western troops withdrew.
In October 2019, US President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of US units from Serekaniye, paving the way for the Turkish attack. The Kurds stood alone. Their secular order in Serekaniye and Tal Abyad collapsed, and their achievements were sacrificed geopolitically.
Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham under Sharaa – alias Abu Mohammad al-Julani, formerly associated with al-Qaeda. Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz receive and conduct negotiations with the self-proclaimed Syrian president, diplomatically recognize his authority, and integrate him into regional power structures, despite his responsibility for the massacres of minorities.
The transformation of a former terrorist leader into a recognized statesman reveals the shortsightedness of Western policy. Ideological principles, violent past, and human rights violations count for nothing once an actor appears geopolitically useful.
Islamism is viewed as a tactical tool, controllable and limited, while its own logic of expansion, purging, and religious purity is ignored. As long as Ankara and Doha strengthen Islamist militias with impunity, and the West directly courts Islamists like Sharaa, the spiral of violence, displacement, and destabilization continues. Secular projects like Rojava (a de-facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria led by Kurds) are marginalized, and the region remains a geopolitical playground for Western interests, at the expense of those who consistently fight against religious fanaticism.
The Age of Enlightenment ended the holy war in the West. In the Middle East, however, religion remains a political weapon, and the West remains its silent accomplice. Those who turn terrorist leaders into statesmen should not be surprised that the spiral of violence continues. The oppression of ethnic and religious minorities, the disenfranchisement of women, and the destruction of secular structures – all of this will be the direct consequence of this policy.
The jihadist threat that is being strengthened today out of geopolitical opportunism will carry out its terrorist attacks in Western cities as well. Leading Western politicians are consciously promoting this development. The responsibility lies with them.
The writer is a Kurdish exiled journalist, political analyst, and Middle East observer focusing on Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Kurdish affairs. a.mardin@icloud.com